Owner of Santee Trucking Company Pleads Guilty to $2 Million Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft Scheme

SAN DIEGO - Hasan Korkmaz, the owner and operator of San Diego Logistics Group Inc., a Santee trucking company, pleaded guilty in federal court today to all 18 counts of an indictment charging him with bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

According to his plea agreement, in 2022 and 2023, Korkmaz executed a credit card "bust-out" scheme-where fraudsters establish seemingly legitimate credit card accounts in other people's names and then "bust out" by maxing out the credit line with no intention of paying the balance.

Korkmaz admitted that he obtained names, dates of birth, social security numbers and other personally identifiable information corresponding with real individuals. Korkmaz then applied for numerous credit card accounts with that information. After opening the fraudulent credit cards accounts, Korkmaz used the credit cards to incur charges at various businesses, including Korkmaz's San Diego Logistics Group Inc. The charges were in the thousands of dollars each, including some charges as high as $18,500 in a single transaction.

To perpetuate the scheme, Korkmaz admitted that he also made fraudulent payments, with checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds or drawn on non-existent accounts, to the credit card accounts, thereby temporarily restoring the available credit limits. Korkmaz would then incur additional charges on the credit card accounts at or near the maximum credit limits for the accounts. In total, Korkmaz caused over $2,103,000 in losses to two banks.

Korkmaz also laundered the bank fraud proceeds, including by transferring proceeds from the fraud scheme internationally to a bank account in Türkiye controlled by Korkmaz. As set forth in public filings, immediately after pulling off the sophisticated $2 million dollar credit card fraud scheme using stolen identities-targeting two banks and almost 100 individual victims-and laundering that money to bank accounts in Türkiye, Korkmaz absconded. There, in Türkiye, Korkmaz spent the next 18 months before ultimately returning to the United States, where he was arrested in June of 2025

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 8, 2027, at 9 a.m. before Judge James E. Simmons, Jr.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Mokhtari and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Rookard.

DEFENDANT Case Number 25-cr-1405-JES

Hasan Korkmaz Age: 45 Las Vegas, NV

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Counts 1-12 - Bank Fraud - Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1344(2)

Maximum penalty: Thirty years in prison; a maximum $1 million fine

Counts 13-14 - Money Laundering - Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1957

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison; a maximum $500,000 fine or twice the amount of monetary instruments involved in the offense, whichever is greatest

Counts 15-18 - Aggravated Identity Theft - Title 18, U.S.C. Section 1028A

Maximum penalty: Mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, to run consecutively to the specified felony

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation