Illinois Man Nabbed for Mail Check Fraud Scheme, Gets 41 Months

Messing with other people's mail is a big no-no and a man in Illinois has learned this the hard way after he was convicted of stealing large corporate checks out of the mail and will now spend 41 months in federal prison.

I first saw this reported by the United States Postal Inspection Service. It's a case prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in the northern district of Indiana. They say that Kareim J. Coverson, 37 years old, of Calumet City, Illinois was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. They say that between during 2019 and 2020, he managed to grab "$3.3 million from the proceeds of large business checks stolen out of the mail". He and other 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". His brother was sentenced to 96 months for being the one who came up with the scheme.

When all was said in done, the prosecutors say there was over $1 million dollars that is unrecoverable by the businesses that were victimized.

This case was a collaborative effort of 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.