New York Man Sentenced for Bank Fraud Conspiracy Following Homeland Security Task Force Investigation

BANGOR, Maine: A New York man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Bangor for conspiring to commit bank fraud.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. sentenced Yongliang Deng, 35, to time-served (approximately one day) in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Deng was also ordered to pay restitution. Deng pleaded guilty on January 21, 2026.

According to court records, Deng provided his personal information and government-issued identification documentation to a co-defendant, who used Deng's information to apply for and obtain a residential mortgage loan from a Maine bank to buy a residence in Eddington. Deng obtained the mortgage by misrepresenting that he would occupy and use the property as his primary residence. During an interview with federal agents, Deng admitted that the Eddington property was an investment property that had been rented out, and that he had never resided there. The property was instead used to illegally cultivate marijuana.

Neither Deng nor any property associated with the conspiracy was licensed through the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy.

The FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated the case, with assistance provided by the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office and the Maine Fire Marshal's Office.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Maine HSTF comprises agents and officers from FBI; HSI; DEA; IRS-Criminal Investigations; U.S. Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Border Patrol; Coast Guard Investigative Service; and Transportation Security Administration, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maine.

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