A Boston man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for a scheme that prosecutors described as a conspiracy to defraud banks and credit unions throughout New England.
A federal judge in Portland sentenced Rahshjeem Benson to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution.
Benson, who is 38, was part of a conspiracy to obtain the names and personal information of people with good credit scores so he and others could apply for unsecured personal loans in the names of their victims, prosecutors said Tuesday. The conspirators had no intention of repaying the loans, and created fake paystubs in the names of victims to support their applications, prosecutors said.
The scheme came to a halt when a loan officer became suspicious and notified law enforcement, prosecutors said.
Benson was arrested by police in Kittery, Maine. He pleaded guilty to charges in October 2019.
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