Department of Justice
United States Attorney Gregory G. Lockhart
Southern District of Ohio
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Fred Alverson
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DAYTON – A federal grand jury here has indicted Nicole Johnson, age 41, of Dayton, charging her with embezzling millions of dollars over a four-year period from the bank where she was an officer.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; J. Mark Batts, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division; and Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Cincinnati Field Office, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, announced the indictment which was returned yesterday and unsealed today.
FBI and IRS agents arrested Johnson near her Dayton home yesterday. She appeared before Magistrate Judge Sharon L. Ovington in United States District Court here today where she was released on her own recognizance. She is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow before Judge Thomas M. Rose.
Johnson was an assistant vice president of JP Morgan Chase Bank’s operations in Dayton. In this capacity, she served as a personal banker for numerous JP Morgan customers, managing their accounts and assisting them to obtain loans and lines of credit. The 55-count indictment alleges that between 2001 and 2005, Johnson used the personal identifying information of her customers to complete and submit fraudulent line of credit applications without the customers’ knowledge.
The indictment alleges that she used these lines of credit to get money for her personal use and created a scheme to hide her actions, including renting a post office box and having all the correspondence regarding the lines of credit sent there.
The indictment includes the following charges and the maximum possible penalties for each:
Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (Bank Fraud) - 30 years imprisonment; 5 years supervised release; $1,000,000 fine; $100 special assessment
Counts 2 - 7: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1346 (Mail Fraud) - 30 years imprisonment; 5 years supervised release; $1,000,000 fine; $100 special assessment, per count
Counts 8 - 25: 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(7) (Using the identity of another) - 15 years imprisonment; 3 years supervised release; $250,000 fine; $100 special assessment, per count
Counts 26 - 37: 18 U.S.C. § 1028A (Aggravated Identity Theft)- 2 years imprisonment; $250,000 fine; 1 year supervised release; $100 special assessment, per count
Counts 38 - 44: 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(I) (Money Laundering to conceal a crime) - 20 years imprisonment; fine of $500,000, or twice the gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greatest; 3 years supervised release; $100 special assessment, per count
Counts 45 - 51: 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (Money Laundering in excess of $10,000) - 10 years imprisonment; fine of $250,000, or twice the gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greatest; 3 years supervised release; $100 special assessment, per count
Counts 52 - 55: 26 U.S.C. 7206(1) – (False statements on an income tax return) 3 years imprisonment; $250,000 fine; 1 year supervised release; $100 special assessment, per count.
Lockhart commended the cooperative investigation by FBI and IRS agents, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mona Guerrier and Brent Tabacchi, who are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent. It is the government’s burden to prove that the person charged is actually guilty of the crimes.