Employee sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release
A Canadian man has been sentenced to 20 months of imprisonment in the United States for defrauding his employer of about US$1.4 million.
Adil Rahman, 36, of Ontario was sentenced in the federal district court in Boston, Massachusetts.
In September 2024, Rahman pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Rahman was charged in July 2024.
Previously, TD Securities entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle criminal charges related to unlawful trading practices involving a worker who used a "spoofing" scheme in the U.S. Treasuries market. The New York-based firm, a subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank, agreed to pay over US$15.5 million in penalties, forfeiture and victim compensation as part of the resolution.
Rahman worked in Ontario as a credit analyst for Company A – a subsidiary of a large electrical distribution and services company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As part of his job, Rahman interacted with clients of Company A concerning invoices for the company’s services.
Between November 2022 and December 2023, Rahman directed certain customers of Company A to pay their invoices via ACH transfers to his personal bank account, rather than to the account of Company A, according to the United States Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts.
“In or about November 2022, Rahman sent an email to the accounts payable department of Company B – a nonprofit municipal corporation based in Hartford, Connecticut – asking if the company would be interested in paying future invoices to Company A by ACH transfer rather than by check,” said the US Attorney’s Office.
“When Company B agreed to do so, Rahman provided his personal account information to Company B. Thereafter, under the false impression that it was sending the money to Company A to pay the invoices it owed, Company B sent at least 15 ACH transfers to Rahman’s personal account between December 2022 and June 2023.”
Also, in May 2023, Rahman emailed the accounts payable department at Company C – a privately held provider of corporate security systems based in Andover, Mass. – asking if Company C wished to pay future invoices by ACH transfer.
When Company C agreed to do so, Rahman provided his personal bank account information and Company C thereafter made 11 ACH transfers to Rahman’s personal account between May 2023 and July 2023.
On top of his prison time and the supervised release, Rahman was also ordered to pay $1,473,909.50 in restitution.
One in five Canadian businesses have fallen prey to payment fraudsters this year, according to a previous report. That is higher compared to the 13% of consumers who have been victims of the scheme, reports Payments Canada.
