American Pleads Guilty to Large-Scale Fraud Scheme Targeting U.S. Servicemembers from the Philippines
A U.S. citizen living in the Philippines has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a five-year identity theft and fraud scheme that defrauded thousands of U.S. servicemembers and veterans.
Robert Wayne Boling Jr., a 45-year-old U.S. citizen, has pleaded guilty to a sweeping identity theft and fraud scheme that targeted thousands of U.S. servicemembers and veterans. Operating from the Philippines, Boling exploited stolen personally identifiable information (PII) to compromise victims' bank accounts and illicitly obtain their funds and veterans' benefits over a five-year period concluding in July 2019. His guilty plea encompasses conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to 40 years.
"Those who courageously served our nation deserve our gratitude and protection — not to become targets for criminals seeking to profit from their sacrifice," stated A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. "This defendant betrayed our country by exploiting personal information belonging to thousands of military-affiliated individuals, including elderly and disabled veterans, in a calculated scheme to steal from those who have given so much."
Boling's arrest occurred in May in Los Angeles following his deportation from the Philippines to face the charges. He was initially indicted in July 2019 alongside four co-conspirators. Two of these individuals, Frederick Brown and Trorice Crawford, have already pleaded guilty and received prison sentences of 151 months and 46 months, respectively. The remaining alleged co-conspirators, Jongmin Seok and Allan Albert Kerr, are still at large.
Prosecutors have identified Boling as the "principal orchestrator of the scheme." The scheme's success was predicated on Boling receiving PII from Frederick Brown, who previously worked as a contractor medical records administrator for the U.S. Army in South Korea between 2010 and 2015. This sensitive data was then leveraged by Boling to gain unauthorized access to various accounts belonging to U.S. servicemembers and veterans.
The criminal enterprise also involved dozens of "money mules" within the United States. These individuals provided bank accounts to receive the illicitly obtained funds. A portion of these stolen funds was subsequently laundered and sent to the Philippines, where Boling was based. The Justice Department has reportedly spent years working to extradite Boling to the U.S. to face justice.
Boling, who was raised in South Korea as a U.S. military dependent, resided in Angeles City, Philippines, according to the indictment. "This defendant and his fellow fraudsters served themselves by stealing from those who selflessly serve our country," commented Justin R. Simmons, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas. "We will always work tirelessly to fully prosecute those who prey on others in this manner, especially when the victims of those crimes are servicemembers."