OPM breach leads to ID, bank fraud guilty pleas

Thieves plead guilty after targeting a Virginia credit union.

A Maryland woman pleaded guilty last week to participating in a scheme that used stolen identification information of victims from the 2015 U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach to obtain fraudulent personal and vehicle loans at the $2.6 billion Langley Federal Credit Union.

Karvia Cross, 39, of Bowie, was part of a fraudulent ID conspiracy ring that targeted the Newport News-Va.-based credit union.

In 2015, OPM publicly acknowledged that a network hack exposed the personal information of about 22 million former and current U.S. government employees. Reportedly, Chinese hackers managed to get into the OPM system in 2012, but they were not detected until March 2014.

Cross pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Co-defendant Marlon McKnight pleaded guilty to the same charges on June 11. They face a maximum penalty of 30 years and a consecutive mandatory minimum of two years in prison. Four other individuals were also indicted for allegedly participating in the bank fraud conspiracy.

 

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