Bank fraud conspiracy ends in prison sentence for Florida man

FLORIDA – A Plant City man has been sentenced to federal prison for a bank fraud conspiracy.

Cameron Porter, 35, has been sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $5,000, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

Porter pleaded guilty on guilty on January 9, 2023.

According to court documents, in March 2019, Porter conspired with Christopher Alholm and others to defraud an FDIC-insured bank (“Bank 1”) with branches throughout the Middle District of Florida. Bank 1 was a member institution of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

During the conspiracy, Porter reportedly obtained from a co-conspirator a victim bank customer’s (“Customer 1”) stolen Home Equity Line of Credit (“HELOC”) account number and personally-identifying information (“PII”), including name, signature, date of birth and Social Security number, and passed that information to Alholm.

Alholm subsequently used the stolen PII and impersonated Customer 1 at a Bank 1 branch in Spring Hill to conduct a fraudulent $495,000 advance of funds from Customer 1’s HELOC account to an intermediary account at Bank 1. After Alholm had completed the fraudulent advance of funds, another conspirator reportedly wired the stolen HELOC funds from the intermediary account to offshore bank accounts.

Porter then is said to have received a share of the stolen proceeds for his role in the conspiracy.

Alholm previously pleaded guilty to his role in this case. In November 2022, he was sentenced to five years and six months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor is prosecuting it.