Fairview Heights man sentenced in bank fraud scheme

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) - A southwestern Illinois man who led a sophisticated and 'œlarge-scale'ť bank fraud scheme has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reported that 21-year-old Lagardo Wright of Fairview Heights was sentenced on Friday to 27 months in prison, spend four years on supervised release and pay more than $30,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors contended that Wright led a team of co-conspirators that found account holders who they were able to convince to turn over their online banking information in exchange for a promise that they would be paid, according to the charges.

Then, armed with that information, the team printed counterfeit checks, deposited them in the accounts of other people and then withdrew the money before the banks could discover what had happened.

According to documents from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Illinois, Wright and his team targeted at least 10 financial institutions, which suffered losses of nearly $100,000.