A whistleblower's tip led to the unraveling of a significant financial fraud scheme involving three U.S. Postal Service employees at a Long Island City, New York, post office, who collectively stole and cashed over 150 financial instruments valued at nearly $320,000.
The investigation began after an allegation that a Postal Service employee was cashing an unusual number of U.S. Treasury checks. Special agents from the Office of Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, discovered the employee was illegally cashing checks and Postal Money Orders, often using fake ID numbers or stolen customer identification information.
The probe expanded to include the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, revealing two additional employees involved in the scheme. Another sales associate was also cashing stolen checks and money orders, while a mail carrier assisted by profiling and rifling through mail believed to contain the valuable green-and-yellow checks.
All three co-conspirators pleaded guilty. The primary suspect resigned and received two years' probation. The other two accomplices were terminated from USPS and sentenced to nine months' home confinement during two years' supervised release. The investigation successfully returned almost $570,000 to victims and secured over $220,000 in forfeited assets.
Inspector General Tammy L. Hull said, "By pursuing a thorough and intricate investigation, the USPS OIG ensured those responsible were held accountable and returned significant losses to victims. This demonstrated the critical role our oversight plays in neutralizing financial threats to the Postal Service and its customers."