NEW YORK — A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to exploiting his insider access to steal confidential customer information and bribe an employee at a second financial institution to falsify bank records, facilitating more than $3.4 million in fraud losses, the Justice Department announced.
Cheungkin Lam, 28, of Queens, New York, also known as Kelvin Lam, admitted to accepting bribes and leveraging his position at TD Bank to identify accounts with large balances and steal customer information, which he then shared with outside co-conspirators who used it to drain customer accounts. The scheme ran from January through May 2021.
In a separate scheme from May through August 2022, Lam bribed an employee at another financial institution to falsify bank records in connection with opening an account used by his co-conspirators to facilitate additional fraud. In total, Lam received at least $155,000 in bribes and was responsible for $3,433,989 in fraud losses.
Lam pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution and making false bank entries or reports. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 15 and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Justice Department officials said the case underscored the critical role bank employees play as the first line of defense against financial crime, and warned that those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain would face federal prosecution. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Morristown Police Department.