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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

DOJ charges payment processing executives involved in $150 million scheme

Federal Issues DOJ Indictment Payment Processors Fraud Credit Cards Debit Cards

Federal Issues

On August 26, the DOJ unsealed an indictment in the District of Massachusetts against four individuals, charging them with “conspiring to deceive banks and credit card companies into processing more than $150 million in credit and debit card payments on behalf of merchants involved in prohibited and high-risk businesses, including online gambling, debt collection, debt reduction, prescription drugs, and payday lending.” According to the announcement, executives of a Los Angeles-based payment processing company secured payment processing for these high-risk businesses through fraudulent misrepresentations about merchant clients. As a payment processor, the company “enabl[ed] merchant clients to accept debit and credit card payments over global electronic payment networks run by major card brands” and “served as an intermediary between its merchant clients and financial institution members of the card brand networks.” Two of the individuals were charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, and two others were charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Among other things, the DOJ asserts that the individuals and their co-conspirators allegedly made fraudulent misrepresentations to financial institutions, card brands, and others about the type of transactions that were being processed along with the true identities of the merchant clients, created shell companies and fake websites to make it appear that they were selling low-risk goods, and “miscategorized the true nature of the transactions” by using industry-standard codes.