Bernanke ID Thief Sentenced Under Plea

If you’re an identity thief looking to keep a low-profile, it’s best not to target the chairman of the Federal Reserve and his wife. Ever since Newsweek broke the news that Ben Bernanke and his wife, Anna, had fallen prey to identity-related fraud, news regarding the investigation, arrests, indictments, and now, according to the Associated Press, conviction, of members of the identity fraud ring thought to be responsible have been generating headlines since August.

The latest installment, a Nov. 13 story from the Associated Press, has 52-year-old Clyde Austin Gray Jr. of Waldorf, Md. sentenced to prison for 11 years and ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution for his activities as “ringleader” of a nationwide identity theft ring. Gray reportedly paid accomplices to steal personal identification and bank account information, which they were instructed to use to make counterfeit driver’s licenses and military identification cards.

The Bernankes’ involvement stemmed from a checkbook that went missing when Anna Bernanke’s purse was stolen in August 2008. Within days of the theft, someone started cashing checks on the family bank account, according to Newsweek.

The aforementioned criminal ring, known as “Cannon to the Wiz,” was discovered when one of Gray’s alleged co-conspirators, Leonardo Darnell Zanders, tried to use a FedEx shipping facility’s Illinois address as his sender address. A store clerk refused to send the packages and he fled the facility, leaving said packages behind. A supervisor opened the packages, discovering stolen personal checks, bank and credit cards, counterfeit military identification cards and driver's licenses.

Authorities searched Zanders' residence, recovering checks, credit and debit cards and driver’s licenses related to approximately 36 victims; a search of Gray’s Maryland home found information belonging to 85 more victims.