Brazilian national sentenced in Massachusetts for bank fraud

BOSTON — A Brazilian national and illegal alien was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and for entering the United States after having been deported.

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Reinaldo Oliveira, 33, recently residing in Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $66,985 in restitution.  

From 2011 to 2012, Oliveira and other conspirators deposited worthless checks into accounts at Massachusetts banks opened in fictitious names, and then withdrew funds before the banks realized the deposits were worthless.  Oliveira’s role in the scheme was to help open accounts, to participate in withdrawing funds, and to control one of the bank accounts.  Oliveira had been deported from the United States in 2001, and was participating in the scheme after reentering the country unlawfully.