Bronx natives Jasper "Lyte" Grayson and James "Sal" Malloy were sentenced in Manhattan Supreme Court today for at least five years and possibly up to a decade in prison for organizing a giant check fraud scheme which netted a minimum of $2 million. With almost a thousand henchmen under their employ, the identity thieves were apprehended last year outside a Bronx bank printing bogus checks with equipment plugged into a cigarette lighter, the Post reports.
Along with the help of several corrupt bank tellers, Grayson and Malloy acquired customer information and cancelled checks to better reproduce their counterfeits. After buying account details from the tellers from banks such as TD, HSBC, and Chase, Lyte and Sal hired hundreds of others to cash fake checks for about $2000 each.
A spokeswoman from the Manhattan DA's office tells the Post that eighteen members of the fraud ring were busted last May, and fourteen of them have taken plea deals. The entire setup claimed 500 victims including Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Madison Square Garden, and the NYPD!
