An unemployed Lakeland man has plead guilty to trying to make fraudulent wire transfers of $7 billion from “a large nationally renowned financial institution.” Court documents reveal that the man believed Jesus wanted him to be wealthy.
John Michael Haskew was accused of instigating the wire transfers on December 9 and 10 from said national financial institution. The Florida man’s wire transfers stroked suspicion from investigators on December 12th when Haskew processed a number of transactions totaling a staggering $7 billion, according to local publication WFTV.
The unemployed man used a bank routing number, that wasn’t his, to schedule over 70 transactions from the anonymous “Bank A” as cited in the complaint. Notably, prosecutors have also revealed that Haskew was in debt with the federal government and was looking at ways to pay it off.
When agents caught up to him, Haskew stated that he was “self-taught on the banking industry” and figured out how to initiate wire transfers through experimentation.
When asked why he continued to make the wire transfers, he offered up a baffling explanation.
The criminal complaint revealed:
(He stated) that Jesus Christ created wealth for everyone. Using this scheme, Haskew believed that he could obtain the wealth that Jesus Christ created for him and that belonged to him.
Suffice to say, Haskew did not get away with the fraudulent transactions. Following his arrest on December 16, Haskew has since entered a guilty plea on Thursday last week, admitting to a charge of making false of fraudulent statement to a department or agency of the United States. No other details have been revealed. It is yet unknown if Haskew managed to siphon any money from the unknown bank.
When sentenced, Haskew faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
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