FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Two Men Indicted for Sophisticated Financial Scam That Allegedly Used 17
Stolen Social Security Numbers to Open Accounts and Get Fake Loans
Took in About $416,000 From Lenders; One Defendant Additionally Charged
With Allegedly Stealing $52,000 by Fraudulently Applying for COVID Relief
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that two men have been indicted for allegedly stealing 17 social security numbers and using them to create a full identity profile for each of them – including driver’s licenses, bank statements, email addresses and more – then using the fake documents to apply for loans in the victims’ names, which they quickly withdrew and never repaid.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “These defendants allegedly perpetrated a sophisticated scam that used stolen identities to defraud financial institutions. The health of our banking system depends on honest dealings and my office will continue working with other partners to ensure that fraudsters are stopped and held responsible. I commend all the investigators who built this case for their meticulous and persistent efforts and am committed to using the evidence they gathered to obtain accountability.”
New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said, “This was a calculated and shameless scheme. These individuals allegedly stole identities, forged documents, and scammed lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent loans and COVID relief funds. New Yorkers rely on the integrity of their financial institutions, and the NYPD remains committed to identifying and arresting those who seek to exploit them. I commend our investigators, the Secret Service, and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office for shutting this scheme down and holding these fraudsters accountable.”
Patrick J. Freaney, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge at the New York Field Office, said, “The volitional criminality allegedly carried out by these defendants yielded massive fraudulent gains at the expense of unwitting victims. Such lucrative schemes require disruption — and that is exactly what this investigation brings. My thanks to our partners at the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office for building a compelling case and bringing accountability to this syndicate.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Dacson Sears, 42, of Coney Island, Brooklyn, and Raymond Lyles (aka L.A. Ray), 41, of Mount Vernon, NY. Sears was arraigned yesterday, and Lyles was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. Both are variously charged in an indictment with fourth-degree conspiracy, second-degree money laundering, first-degree scheme to defraud, third- and second-degree grand larceny, 17 counts of first-degree identity theft, 62 counts of first-degree falsifying business records, and other related charges. The defendants were released without bail and ordered to return to court on August 6, 2025.
The District Attorney said that between January 1, 2022 through January 1, 2024, the defendants allegedly obtained the names and social security numbers of at least 17 individuals. They formed an identity profile for each individual by creating fraudulent documents in that person’s name such as a driver’s license, bank account statements, payroll stubs, utility bills, real estate deeds, and tax return forms. They also often opened or used email addresses in those persons’ names that were under the defendants’ control.
It is alleged that after creating these identity profiles, the defendants opened new online financial accounts with various creditors and applied for personal loans through the new accounts without the consent or knowledge of the true persons. The creditors approved the loans, and the loan proceeds were thereafter disbursed. The defendants also allegedly applied for and received debit cards that were mailed to addresses under their control. The funds from the loans were either quickly withdrawn using the debit cards or transferred to various other bank accounts the defendants controlled. They never paid back the loans, causing financial loss to the creditors.
The loan amounts ranged from $15,000 to $36,000, the evidence shows, with the total sum allegedly stolen from financial institutions adding up to approximately $416,000.
In addition, the indictment alleges that in July 2022, Sears, using the stolen identity of a person whose name he was using to lease his Ocean Drive apartment, stole about $52,000 by applying for COVID relief for rental arrears with the NYS Office of Disability and Temporary Assistance. The fraudulent application was approved, and the funds were disbursed to his landlord, causing a loss to the state.
The case was investigated by Detective Marcelo Razzo, of the NYPD’s Financial Crimes Taskforce, Special Agent Haley Hoffman, of the Cyber Crimes Taskforce at the United States Secret Service, USSS Intelligence Analyst Jessica Ryan, together with Detective Investigators from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Financial Investigator Vincent Jones and Intelligence Analyst Alexia Dolphy of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division, with assistance from Senior Digital Forensic Analyst Mauricio Suarez-Marquez and other members of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Digital Evidence Lab.
The District Attorney thanked Yann Du, Senior Investigator, Financial Crimes and Intelligence, at Municipal Credit Union of New York, Detective Donald Wilhelm, of the Sheriff’s Office of Loudoun County, VA, and the Washington Field Office of the USSS, specifically Special Agent Lance Tate, Special Agent Willis Cheng, and Investigative Analyst Mary Epstein
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Deidre Moskowitz, of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Gregory Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division, and Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
#
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.