Baton Rouge man sentenced to 70 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – A Baton Rouge man will spend 70 months in prison following his conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Terrance August, 48, will spend that time in federal prison after pleading guilty.

“August and other co-conspirators defrauded financial institutions by using the bank's customers' personally identifiable information, including names, social security numbers and dates of birth, to gain access to bank information. counts,” the DOJ said.

They were accused of contacting financial institutions using personally identifiable information and asking them to make “changes to the victims’ accounts,” the DOJ said.

They pretended to be bank customers and changed their account information, including “phone number”.
number, mailing address, and reporting preferences,” according to the DOJ.

The DOJ said the victims signed up for online banking without their knowledge.

After that, August and other co-conspirators transferred money from the victims' accounts.

The money was sent via interstate wire transfers “to accounts held by August and other co-conspirators,” the DOJ said.

The money came from out-of-state financial institutions.

The “conspiracy members withdrew the funds in the form of cash at several ATMs and bank branches located in the Middle District of Louisiana,” the DOJ said.

They said August and other co-conspirators used some of the money “for their own personal enrichment and financial gain.”

After his time in prison, August must “serve three years of supervised release” and “pay $179,976.99 in restitution to financial institutions,” according to the DOJ.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this matter.

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