Bank Insider Pleads Guilty to Facilitating Fraud Schemes at Two Financial Institutions
Thursday, May 28, 2026 - A New York-based former employee of TD Bank N.A., Cheungkin Lam, also known as Kelvin Lam, pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding TD Bank customers and bribing an employee at another financial institution to falsify bank records, which, in total, facilitated more than $3.4 million of fraud.
According to court documents, from January 2021 through May 2021, Lam, 28, of Queens, New York, accepted bribes and leveraged his position at TD Bank to identify bank accounts with large balances and steal confidential customer information. Lam shared that information with outside co-conspirators, who used it to defraud customer accounts. Separately, from May 2022 through August 2022, Lam engaged in a scheme to bribe a co-conspirator employed at another financial institution to falsify bank records in opening a bank account for use in various fraud schemes by Lam’s co-conspirators. In total, Lam received at least $155,000 in bribes and facilitated $3,433,989.07 in fraud losses.
“Lam abused his position as a bank employee to help fraudsters steal money from unwitting customers and bribed another bank employee to do the same,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Bank employees are the first line of defense against money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. When bank employees violate the public trust by using their positions to enrich themselves through financial crime, the Criminal Division will investigate and prosecute them.”
“Lam leveraged his and a co-conspirator’s insider positions at two different financial institutions to facilitate millions of dollars of fraud in exchange for bribes,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey. “We expect bank employees to help root out fraud, not enable it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to hold financial institutions and their employees accountable when they break the law and undermine the integrity of the financial system.”
“Cheungkin Lam’s conduct represents a grave breach of the trust placed in financial professionals,” said Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Newark Field Office. “By exploiting his access to sensitive customer information, Lam facilitated a significant fraud and compromised the integrity of the financial system and the security of innocent victims. IRS-CI remains firmly committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain.”
“Lam abused his trusted position as an employee of TD Bank to engage in bribery and perpetrate fraud that resulted in financial losses to unknowing bank customers,” said Special Agent in Charge Patricia Tarasca of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC OIG) New York Region. “The FDIC OIG stands firm in its commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable bank insiders who exploit their positions for their own gain and threaten the safety and soundness of our Nation’s financial institutions.”
Lam pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution and making false bank entries or reports. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 15 and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
IRS-CI and FDIC-OIG are investigating the case. The Department also thanks the Morristown Police Department for its assistance with the investigation.
Trial Attorneys D. Zachary Adams and Chelsea Rooney of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marko Pesce, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division for the District of New Jersey, are prosecuting the case.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers and employees whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.
U.S. Department of Justice
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Source: Justice.gov
