Bergen County Man Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Stealing Millions of Dollars From Lenders and Corporations in Wire Fraud Scheme

NEWARK N.J. - A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for defrauding lenders and corporations of $4.9 million by impersonating two bank executives interested in funding syndicated loans for global companies, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Matthew O'Callaghan, 43, of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton via videoconference to count one of an indictment charging him with wire fraud. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2016 through 2019, O'Callaghan defrauded at least two global financial services groups and four global companies of millions of dollars by deceiving them into believing that 'Bank A' was agreeing to commit funds to revolving credit facilities. He contacted the victim-lenders and victim-companies using the aliases 'Edward Tierney' and 'Michael Nash,' whom he falsely represented were executives at Bank A. O'Callaghan induced the victim-lenders and victim-companies into agreeing to pay Bank A to take on a commitment to fund revolving credit facilities.

O'Callaghan submitted numerous fraudulent documents to the victim-lenders and victim-companies that were designed to deceive them into believing that Nash and Tierney were legitimate representatives of Bank A, when in fact they were not. O'Callaghan created email addresses to resemble legitimate Bank A email addresses, false email signature blocks for Tierney and Nash that bore the Bank A logo and listed the business address for Bank A, fraudulent wiring instructions bearing Bank A's logo and address, and a tax form bearing a tax identification number for Bank A.

O'Callaghan directed the victim-lenders and victim-companies to wire funds to a bank account at Bank A that O'Callaghan controlled and then converted the money for personal expenses, the purchase of an automobile, gambling, travel, and payments to a private club.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced O'Callaghan to three years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, and inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Newark Division, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Rodney M. Hopkins in Newark, with the investigation leading to today's sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Fayer of the U.S. Attorney's Office Economic Crimes Unit.

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