Laquan 'China Man' Williams Gets 200 Months for Sending Imposters Into Banks to Drain Customer Accounts

Published Oct. 19, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

A New Jersey man who prosecutors say ran crews of impostors into bank branches, posing as real customers and small-business owners to move their money, was sentenced on Oct. 13, 2026, to 200 months in federal prison. Laquan Williams, 42, of Florham Park, New Jersey, also known as "China Man," had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said [1].

When agents searched his home and car in 2024, prosecutors say, they found more than 1,000 stolen or altered checks, hundreds of counterfeit ID cards, a hologram ID press and two loaded handguns. Intended losses in one part of the scheme alone exceeded $30 million [1].

Status: Williams pleaded guilty on Sept. 4, 2025, and has been sentenced. The facts below come from the U.S. Attorney's Office summary of the indictment, court filings and court proceedings.

How the schemes worked

Prosecutors describe three overlapping schemes between 2021 and 2024 [1]:

1. Impersonating individual customers (May–June 2023). Williams sent co-conspirators into banks in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to pose as real customers and deposit checks that moved money out of the victims' accounts into accounts the group controlled. One victim was described only as "a prominent former federal government official." Prosecutors say Williams himself called a bank pretending to be that person and tried to move money between the victim's accounts using the victim's Social Security number. Intended losses: about $827,568; actual losses: about $43,361.
2. Impersonating small-business owners (September–November 2023). A co-conspirator posed as owners of small businesses and asked banks to transfer money from the real business accounts into new accounts with very similar names that Williams controlled. He then withdrew the money as cash or moved it through Cash App. Intended losses: about $218,123; actual losses: about $87,761.
3. Cashing stolen U.S. Treasury checks (October 2021–May 2024). The group recruited people to pose as the owners of the companies named on stolen Treasury checks and deposit them into accounts opened just for that purpose. In one instance, a stolen Treasury check for $13.9 million was deposited at a bank branch in Massachusetts. Actual losses topped $1.15 million; intended losses exceeded $30 million.

NBC New York reported that prosecutors' sentencing submission included photos of Williams posing with stacks of cash [2].

What agents found

At Williams's arrest on May 23, 2024, investigators recovered, among other things, about 1,102 blank state ID cards, 27 seals and holograms for ID cards, a hologram ID press, nine stolen Treasury checks worth about $506,011, roughly 1,015 other stolen or altered checks worth about $3.35 million, 571 counterfeit ID cards, 524 counterfeit credit or debit cards, 56 stolen credit cards, 478 pages of blank check stock, printers and laminators, a Glock 19 and a Ruger .380 pistol, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office [1].

The sentence and his record

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain imposed 200 months (16 years, 8 months) in prison, three years of supervised release, forfeiture of about $1.8 million and restitution [1]. Prosecutors put losses to financial institutions at a minimum of $1.8 million.

Williams committed the new crimes while on federal supervised release. In May 2018, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl had sentenced him to 64 months in prison for taking part in similar bank fraud schemes [1].

"For nearly two decades, Williams has been stealing money from innocent bank customers with forged checks, counterfeit identification cards, and stolen personal identifying information," U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said [1].

The U.S. Secret Service and the New York City Police Department investigated. The co-conspirators who walked into the banks are not named in the release.

Red flags for customers and small businesses

You cannot stop someone from walking into a branch with a fake ID in your name, but you can catch it fast:

• A new account at your bank with a name almost identical to your business. In the second scheme, money was moved into look-alike business accounts.
• Transfers or deposits you did not make, especially in-branch transactions at a location you never visit.
• A missing check you were expecting, whether a refund, a vendor payment or a government check. The third scheme ran on stolen Treasury checks.
• Bank calls or letters about "your" visit or "your" request that you never made.

What to do

1. Turn on alerts for every transaction, password change and new payee on personal and business accounts, and review statements weekly.
2. Ask your bank about extra verification for in-branch withdrawals and transfers, such as a passcode or a callback to the phone number on file.
3. Mail checks from inside the post office, and switch to direct deposit or electronic payment where you can.
4. If someone impersonated you at a bank, call the bank's fraud department using the number on your card or statement, file a police report, and report identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov, which builds a recovery plan [3].
5. Report check theft to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service if the check was taken from the mail [4].

Case status (as of Oct. 19, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 19, 2026	Source
Laquan Williams ("China Man"), 42, Florham Park, N.J.	Federal, S.D.N.Y.	Pleaded guilty Sept. 4, 2025, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft; sentenced Oct. 13, 2026, to 200 months, 3 years' supervised release, ~$1.8M forfeiture and restitution	[1], [2]

Statuses can change, including on appeal.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, "Serial Bank Fraudster Sentenced To Over Sixteen Years In Prison," Oct. 14, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/serial-bank-fraudster-sentenced-over-sixteen-years-prison
2. Jonathan Dienst and Courtney Copenhagen, "Serial bank fraudster from NJ sentenced for trying to steal $30 million in ID theft scams," NBC New York, Oct. 14, 2026. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/serial-bank-fraudster-nj-sentenced-steal-30-million-id-theft-scams/6559538/
3. Federal Trade Commission, IdentityTheft.gov (accessed Oct. 19, 2026). https://www.identitytheft.gov/
4. U.S. Postal Inspection Service, "Report a Crime" (accessed Oct. 19, 2026). https://www.uspis.gov/report

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