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A Calumet City, Illinois man faces more than three years in prison after he was convicted for his role in using stolen checks to falsely obtain millions of dollars.
Kareim Coverson, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, the Indiana Northern District’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced earlier this week.
U.S. District Court Judge Phillip Simon sentenced Coverson to 41 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $614,597.50 in restitution to the victims of the offense.
According to documents in the case, between approximately May 2019 and June 2020, Coverson participated in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $3.3 million from the proceeds of large business checks stolen out of the mail.
Coverson and his co-conspirators registered fictitious corporations with the Indiana and Illinois Secretaries of State, opened fraudulent corporate bank accounts, and deposited the stolen checks into the fraudulent accounts. The actions of Coverson and his associates resulted in an unrecovered loss of more than $1 million to the affected businesses and financial institutions.
Coverson is the last of 10 defendants to be convicted and sentenced in this case and a related prosecution arising from the same scheme.
In April 2024, Coverson’s brother, Oliver Coverson, was sentenced to 96 months in prison for his role as the organizer of the scheme.
Earlier this year, defendant Scott Vue received a prison sentence of 51 months for his role in the offense, which included opening fraudulent bank accounts, depositing stolen checks, and recruiting additional participants to the conspiracy.
“The Coverson brothers and their associates assembled a large criminal conspiracy that caused millions of dollars of harm to businesses and banks throughout the United States. These defendants stole from small and large businesses alike, disrupting the flow of commerce, and compromising the mail and financial systems on which everyday Americans rely to conduct their business,” said Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor in a news release. “As the court’s sentences in this case demonstrate, such conduct is not tolerated in the Northern District of Indiana and will be met with serious consequences.”
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
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