09/14/2025

New York Woman Admits Depositing $2.7 million in Fraudulent Checks in Missouri, Illinois

United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A woman from New York on Friday admitted attempting to deposit $2.7 million in fraudulent checks.

Gabrielle Borthwick, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to 12 felonies: six counts of financial institution fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

Borthwick admitted as part of her plea that she obtained counterfeit cashier’s checks and the stolen personal information (names, birthdates and Social Security numbers) of multiple people. She then went to a series of banks in Missouri and fraudulently opened, or attempted to open, accounts in the victims’ names without their permission. Borthwick presented the financial institutions with counterfeit out-of-state driver’s licenses that displayed her photograph but contained the victims’ names and dates of birth. To dispel concerns about the out-of-state licenses, Borthwick falsely claimed to have recently moved to Missouri and supplied fake utility and phone bills to support her claims. She then deposited counterfeit cashier’s checks in amounts ranging from $121,260 to $1.4 million. She claimed to run a wedding planning business to allay bank officials’ suspicions about the size of the checks. Borthwick then tried to withdraw cash or electronically transfer funds before the financial institutions realized that the checks were fake.