BOSTON, Mass.- Four Massachusetts men have been arrested and charged in connection with an alleged fraud scheme involving more than $12.2 million in stolen U.S. Treasury checks and more than $1 million in other alleged fraud targeting banks, credit unions and their customers.
The men are David Obeng, 24, of Dedham; Lynley Joseph, 26, of Brockton; Lindsley Georges, 33, of Everett; and Shaunsayh Addo, 33, of Leominster.
Federal prosecutors say all four men were involved in a scheme to steal and deposit U.S. Treasury checks that had been changed to make them payable to companies controlled by the defendants.
Each man allegedly helped deposit the fraudulent checks at banks or credit unions in and around Metro Boston in exchange for a share of the money, according to court documents.
The four men were arrested Thursday. After appearing in federal court in Boston, Joseph and Addo were released under certain conditions. Obeng and Georges remain in custody while they await additional court hearings.
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme involved at least $12.2 million in Treasury checks between 2023 and 2026. The checks had originally been issued to legitimate recipients but were allegedly altered before being deposited.
After the money was deposited, the defendants allegedly moved it through other financial transactions to hide where it came from. Prosecutors say the transactions included cashier’s checks, the purchase of $310,000 worth of luxury watches and a $425,000 real estate loan secured by property in Nantucket.
Eight other people were charged in June 2025, and another person was charged in June 2026, in connection with the same stolen Treasury checks.
A separate set of charges against Obeng alleges that he and others gained unauthorized access to victims’ bank and retirement accounts.
According to prosecutors, members of the group sent text messages that appeared to come from victims’ banks and called victims while pretending to be bank representatives. They allegedly claimed to be investigating fraud and persuaded victims to provide security codes needed to make withdrawals.
The money was then allegedly transferred from victims’ accounts to accounts controlled by Obeng and others, prosecutors said.
Obeng and others also allegedly recruited people to visit bank branches, pretend to be customers, open accounts, deposit or transfer money from the alleged fraud and withdraw it in cash.
“United States Treasury checks belong to the American people. Defendants who steal and deposit them, like the defendants charged today, steal from all of us,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said.
Federal officials from the IRS, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service also announced the arrests and described their agencies’ roles in the investigation.
According to court records, Georges was convicted of money laundering in federal court in Massachusetts in January 2022. He was still serving a period of federal supervision when he allegedly took part in the schemes described in the new charges.
If convicted, the bank fraud charges could carry prison sentences of up to 30 years, while the money laundering charges could carry sentences of up to 20 years. The aggravated identity theft charge against Obeng carries a minimum two-year prison sentence that would be served in addition to any other sentence imposed.
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