A 57-year-old Moreno Valley man accused of conspiring with another Californian to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from a real estate investor and the U.S. Small Business Administration was arrested Friday.
Anthony Debose Hannah was slated to make his initial appearance Friday afternoon at U.S. District Court in downtown Riverside on money laundering conspiracy charges.
The defendant was being held without bail at a federal detention center in San Bernardino.
His co-defendant, 59-year-old Eric Bullard of Los Angeles, was arrested and charged earlier this month with money laundering.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hannah and Bullard allegedly hacked an email account at a New Jersey law firm last June and began communicating with an unnamed real estate investor, persuading him in a series of emails that the firm would represent him in a transaction.
The victim, convinced he was speaking with representatives from the firm, was told to wire $560,000 to a bank account belonging to “Eric’s Commercial LLC,” and he complied, prosecutors said.
“Approximately 10 cash withdrawals were subsequently made from the account totaling $96,275,” according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement. “On June 14, 2020, three large wire transfers totaling approximately $460,000 were made from the Eric’s Commercial Bank account to other bank accounts. One of those transfers was a wire transfer of approximately $230,000 to an account in the name of `Anthony Property Management & Development’ — an account controlled by Hannah.”
During the investigation into the New Jersey conspiracy, additional alleged fraudulent activity traced to Hannah and Bullard was uncovered, prosecutors said.
According to the Department of Justice, the pair allegedly applied for and received separate SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans. In Hannah’s case, $145,500 was received based on an aid application filed on behalf of a pharmacy in Idaho, prosecutors allege.
In Bullard’s case, a $143,100 loan was received based on an aid application filed for a pharmacy in Colorado, according to the government.
“In addition to the SBA loan money, Hannah also received payments from the Illinois Department of Employment Security,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, without specifying the amount.
Bullard is expected to be tried in New Jersey and is awaiting extradition. It was unclear whether Hannah’s case would be handled in the Central District of California or also moved to New Jersey.