Some prisoners serving long sentences for violent crimes try to use their prison sentences to better themselves. Some commit more crimes even while they are locked up.
Arthur Lee Cofield is in the second group. The 31-year-old currently serves 14 years in a Georgia prison for armed robbery. He’s reportedly added a new line to his rap sheet. Identity theft. Yes, he is accused of accessing the bank accounts of billionaires and moving an eight-figure sum of money into an account he controlled so he could purchase a $4.4 million mansion.
How you might be wondering how this possibly could have happened. He had some help and used contraband cell phones smuggled to him in jail.
Coifed allegedly stole the identity of a very real and very reach movie producer named Sidney Kimmel. His credits include “Moneybag” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” Kimmell has done very well and is worth $1.5 billion.
Cofield didn’t stop at fleecing just one billionaire – he also stole over $2 million out of an account belonging to the wife of another billionaire, Herbert Wertheim.
Authorities have charged Cofield, his daughter Eliayah Bennett, and Eldridge Bennet with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering.
The details of how they allegedly pulled this off are incredible. Cofield used a cell phone to access Kimmel’s Charles Schwab account two years ago. From there, he impersonated the movie producer on the phone while talking to a customer service representative and opened a checking account to access the funds. Then his accomplices helped access Kimmel’s driver’s license and utility bill to complete the verification process.
He wasn’t done. He used the money to purchase over 6,000 gold coins for almost $11 million and then hired a security team to fly that gold on a private plane to Georgia.
In July 2020, the other two defendants purchased a six-bedroom house for $4.4 million, putting $720K down in cash, then sending the rest of the payment to own the home free and clear shortly after.
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