New Jersey Woman Who Used Stolen Identities to Obtain Business Loans and Credit Cards Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 54 Months in Prison

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that INNA IOULEVITCH was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 54 months in prison for using stolen identities to open numerous fraudulent lines of credit through which she ultimately obtained more than $700,000. On July 27, 2011, IOULEVITCH pled guilty to charges of bank fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Her sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Lacking good credit herself, Inna Ioulevitch ruined the credit of others by opening fraudulent accounts in their names and using their lines of credit to underwrite her prodigious spending habits. She will now be punished for her crimes.”

According to court documents and proceedings:

IOULEVITCH stole the identities of a neighbor, an acquaintance, and her own sister-in-law, and used those identities to fraudulently obtain small business loans and credit cards. IOULEVITCH obtained credit lines in each victim’s name typically by falsely representing the victim to be the president of a sham company that she controlled. Based on the good credit score of the victim, as well as false financial information that IOULEVITCH would submit on the relevant credit applications, the credit lines would be approved. IOULEVITCH would then access money from these credit lines by regularly forging the victim’s signature on checks and credit card receipts.

IOULEVITCH drew upon these fraudulently obtained lines of credit for several years, using the money to fund a lavish personal lifestyle. Among other things, the proceeds of her crime enabled IOULEVITCH to reside in a waterfront condominium, drive a Mercedes Benz, and travel regularly to Europe and other vacation destinations.

In all, IOULEVITCH ran up more than $700,000 in unpaid debt. Her identity theft victims were left to struggle with repairing the resulting damage to their credit.

* * *

In addition to her prison term, Judge Crotty sentenced IOULEVITCH, 51, of Edgewater, New Jersey, to three years of supervised release and ordered her to forfeit approximately $$700,916.

Mr. Bharara thanked the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their investigation of the case.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serrin Turner and Sean Buckley are in charge of the prosecution.