NEWARK – A Bergen County man was arrested today for defrauding lenders and corporations of millions of dollars by impersonating two bank executives interested in funding syndicated loans for global companies, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Officials say, Matthew O’Callaghan, 43, of Upper Saddle River, is charged by indictment with five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. He is scheduled to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward S. Kiel in Newark federal court.
According to the indictment:
From 2016 through 2019, O’Callaghan defrauded two financial services groups and four other companies of millions of dollars by deceiving them into believing that “Bank A” was agreeing to commit funds to revolving credit facilities.
He represented himself as an executive at Bank A using the aliases “Edward Tierney” and “Michael Nash.” O’Callaghan induced the victims into making trades in which they agreed to pay Bank A to take on a commitment to fund revolving credit facilities.
O’Callaghan submitted numerous fraudulent documents to the victims that were designed to deceive them into believing that Nash and Tierney were legitimate representatives of Bank A, including email addresses resembling legitimate Bank A email addresses.
False email signature blocks for Tierney and Nash that bore the Bank A logo and listed the business address for Bank A, fraudulent wiring instructions bearing Bank A’s logo and address, and a tax form were bearing a tax identification number for Bank A.
O’Callaghan directed the victims to wire funds to a bank account at Bank A that O’Callaghan controlled and then converted the money for his own use, including the purchase of an automobile, gambling, travel, and payments to a private club according to officials.
The wire fraud counts each carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
The money laundering counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.