Birmingham man sentenced to 10 years for multi-million dollar fraud

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — A Birmingham man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after running a Telegram channel that sold millions of dollars in stolen and fraudulent checks.

Mekhi Harris, 25, of Birmingham, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $160,000 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in April, says U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

The plea agreement states that Harris was an administrator of a “work-related” Telegram channel with the handle “@Olihk,” from April 2022 to Aug. 2023. Over 1,000 stolen or fraudulent checks were sold on the channel. The total value of the checks was more than $10 million and victims included churches, schools and non-profit organizations.

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