New York Woman Admits Attempting to Deposit $2.7 million in Fraudulent Checks in Missouri, Illinois

ST. LOUIS - A woman from New York on Friday admitted attempting to deposit $2.7 million in fraudulent checks.

Gabrielle Borthwick, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to 12 felonies: six counts of financial institution fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

Borthwick admitted as part of her plea that she obtained counterfeit cashier's checks and the stolen personal information (names, birthdates and Social Security numbers) of multiple people. She then went to a series of banks in Missouri and fraudulently opened, or attempted to open, accounts in the victims' names without their permission. Borthwick presented the financial institutions with counterfeit out-of-state driver's licenses that displayed her photograph but contained the victims' names and dates of birth. To dispel the financial institutions' concerns about the out-of-state licenses, Borthwick falsely claimed to have recently moved to Missouri and supplied fake utility and phone bills to support her claims. She then deposited counterfeit cashier's checks in amounts ranging from $121,260 to $1.4 million. She claimed to run a wedding planning business to dispel bank officials' suspicions about the size of the checks. Borthwick would then try and withdraw cash or electronically transfer funds before the financial institutions realized that the checks were fake.

Borthwick deposited checks in multiple Missouri banks and in one bank in Illinois totaling $2,773,280.65. She fraudulently obtained $271,667.98, her plea agreement says.

Borthwick is scheduled to be sentenced on December 17. Financial institution fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by two years in prison, consecutive to any other charge and a fine of up to $250,000. She will be ordered to repay the money.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and police departments in Eureka, O'Fallon and Union in Missouri and Edwardsville in Illinois investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf is prosecuting the case.