Virginia Woman Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Conspiracy

January 03, 2025

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Sherry Ozmore, age 56, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with her role as a “runner” for a nationwide conspiracy to impersonate customers of financial institutions to fraudulently obtain cash, checks, loans, and credit. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Ozmore was indicted in October 2024 as part of a superseding indictment charging the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, Oluwaseun Adekoya, 39, a Nigerian citizen living in New Jersey, as well as David Daniyan, 60, a Nigerian citizen who according to prosecutors has lived in the United States under stolen identities for decades, with orchestrating a conspiracy to steal the identities of people who resided all over the country and impersonate those people at banks and credit unions to fraudulently obtain cash, checks, loans, and credit. According to documents previously filed in court, the conspirators also allegedly opened bank accounts in the names of identity theft victims, which were then used to deposit and access the funds from checks they had fraudulently obtained from banks and credit unions by impersonating other individuals. The conspirators’ conduct allegedly involved nearly $3 million in intended losses, over $1.7 million of which was successful.

Ozmore admitted that she was recruited to join the conspiracy as a runner in or around January 2023 and fraudulently obtained over $195,000 over a five-month period that year from banks and credit unions by impersonating identity-theft victims whose personal identifying information was supplied to her by supervisors. Ozmore was paid a small portion of the money she fraudulently obtained.

The following defendants are charged as follows in the superseding indictment:

Adekoya is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft;
Daniyan is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts aggravated identity theft;
Kani Bassie, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft;
Davon Hunter, 27, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft;
Jermon Brooks, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft;
Christian Quivers, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft; and
Crystal Kurschner, 44, of Brooklyn, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI-Albany, which began after the May 2022 arrest of Daniyan, Gaysha Kennedy, 46, of Brooklyn, and Victor Barriera, 64, of the Bronx, by the Cohoes Police Department after the trio had allegedly traveled to the Capital Region to commit bank fraud.

Adekoya, Daniyan, Kennedy, and Barriera were originally indicted, along with coconspirators Jerjuan Joyner, 50, of Brooklyn, Akeem Balogun, 56, of Brooklyn, Danielle Cappetti, 46, of the Bronx, and Lesley Lucchese, 53, of Brooklyn.

At sentencing on May 6, 2025, Ozmore faces a maximum term of 30 years’ incarceration, an order of restitution in the amount of $195,500, and a term of supervised release of up to 5 years.

Kennedy, Barriera, Joyner, Balogun, Cappetti, and Lucchese have pled guilty to bank fraud conspiracy and are pending sentencing.

The charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

FBI Albany is investigating the case, with assistance from the FBI Field Offices in New York, Newark, Richmond and Resident Agencies in Westchester, New York; Brooklyn/Queens, New York; Garrett Mountain, New Jersey; and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Additional assistance was provided by other law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement & Removal Operations (New York Field Office & Albany sub-office); U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (Buffalo Field Office & St. Albans Resident Office); U.S. Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General; New York law enforcement agencies including the New York State Police; Cohoes PD; Colonie PD; Elmira PD; Corning PD; Plattsburgh PD; Florida law enforcement agencies including the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; the Pennsylvania State Police; Alabama law enforcement agencies including the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Gasden PD, and Rainbow City PD; Georgia law enforcement agencies including the Georgia State Patrol, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, and Morrow PD; Kansas law enforcement agencies including Lawrence PD and Overland Park PD; New Hampshire law enforcement agencies including Rochester PD, Manchester PD, and Amherst PD; the Delaware State Police; Maryland law enforcement agencies including the Maryland State Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Office and Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office; Wisconsin law enforcement agencies including Onalaska PD and Eau Claire PD; and Indiana law enforcement agencies including the Allen County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin S. Clark and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting this case.