Businessman sentenced in $180 million bank fraud that paid for lavish lifestyle, classic cars

Also: Michigan Man Sentenced to Prison for Check-Kiting Scheme that Caused Loss of Nearly $150 Million (U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio)

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Source: Associated Press

Businessman sentenced in $180 million bank fraud that paid for lavish lifestyle, classic cars

Updated 2:39 PM EDT, November 3, 2023

CLEVELAND (AP) — A businessman who orchestrated a $180 million check-kiting scheme and used the proceeds to live a lavish lifestyle and amass one of the world’s most revered classic car collections has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

Najeeb Khan, 70, of Edwardsburg, Michigan, told a federal judge Thursday that he was “blinded by greed” to carry out the scheme and buy more than 250 cars, as well as airplanes, boats and a helicopter, according to Cleveland.com. Besides receiving a 97-month sentence, he must pay $121 million in restitution to Cleveland-based KeyBank, $27 million to clients and $9.8 million in back taxes.

Authorities have said Khan carried out the fraud from 2011-2019 while growing his payroll processing business in Elkhart, Indiana. He funneled dozens, sometimes hundreds, of checks and wire transfers with insufficient funds through three banks, artificially inflating the amount in his accounts. He siphoned off about $73 million for himself.

He used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle that included expensive vacations, mansions in Arizona and Michigan and properties in Florida and Montana, as well as planes and yachts. His massive car collection included pristine vintage Ferraris, Fiats and Jaguars.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/bank-fraud-classic-cars-keybank-elkhart-d0c9a4a2a66fb88a832a613a8560c49c


A collection of cars owned by businessman Najeeb Khan (FBI)

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Source: Northern District of Ohio

Michigan Man Sentenced to Prison for Check-Kiting Scheme that Caused Loss of Nearly $150 Million

Thursday, November 2, 2023
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio

CLEVELAND –Najeeb Khan, 70, of Edwardsburg, Michigan was sentenced to 97 months imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge Pamela A. Barker after earlier pleading guilty to bank fraud and attempted tax evasion. Judge Barker also ordered Khan to pay over $150,000,000 in restitution to the victims of his bank fraud and the IRS, and to serve 3 years of supervised release once released from prison.

According to court documents, Khan owned and operated Interlogic Outsourcing Inc. (“IOI”), a payroll processing company that, at one point, provided services to approximately 6,000 clients.

Beginning in 2014, however, Khan operated a check-kiting scheme using his company’s business bank accounts to fraudulently obtain funds from various financial institutions, including KeyBank. Khan used these funds to support the growth of his payroll processing business and fund his lifestyle, which included the purchase of automobiles, aircraft, and vacation homes.

As part of his scheme, Khan wrote checks and made wire transfers between multiple accounts under his control at various banks. This type of fraud is commonly known as check-kiting, and it involves the perpetrator continually writing checks back and forth between accounts he or she controls to fraudulently inflate account balances, thus deceiving banks into honoring checks written with insufficient funds.

Khan wrote checks from IOI accounts at Lake City Bank for deposit into IOI accounts at KeyBank and then wrote checks from IOI accounts at Berkshire Bank for deposit into IOI accounts at Lake City Bank. To cover the check funds issued from Berkshire Bank, Khan wired funds from IOI accounts at KeyBank to IOI accounts at Berkshire Bank.

This long-running check-kiting scheme caused a financial loss of nearly $150 million to businesses around the country and to KeyBank in the Northern District of Ohio. Khan also failed to report income gained from the check-kiting scheme on his annual tax return for the tax years 2014 to 2017.

“This defendant essentially gave himself a $150,000,000 loan, spent money however he wanted on himself and his business, then defaulted, all without ever getting the banks’ approval to give him that loan,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko. “These types of financial crimes undermine the well-being of our financial institutions and harm our entire community. This office will vigilantly investigate and prosecute persons who engage in such conduct to protect and prevent harm to financial institutions locally and nationwide.”

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/michigan-man-sentenced-prison-check-kiting-scheme-caused-loss-nearly-150-million