A multi-million dollar bank fraud and money laundering scheme led to the arrest of Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery today. He, his track coach Steven Riddick, and 12 others have been indicted by a grand jury in New York. The group is accused of depositing $5 million in stolen, altered, and counterfeit checks in a scheme that has been ongoing for three years.
The scheme was allegedly led by Douglas Shyne and Natasha Singh, who set up sham businesses to alter or copy checks stolen from banks. Most of the checks were for accounts at large companies that didn’t notice the cash missing right away. Montgomey is accused of depositing three counterfeit checks worth a total of $775,000. He is also accused of earning a fee of $20,000 for helping his coach and others deposit checks worth $905,000.
Montgomery was banned from track and field for two years for doping related to the criminal investigation of BALCO, the lab involved in a steroid scandal. His 2001 world record sprint of 9.79 seconds has been taken off the books.
Tags: bank fraud, money laundering, grand jury, scheme
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