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Court records name an ex-employee of Bank of America’s branch in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, as the “banker” accused Monday of helping launder some of the $10.6 billion that a cross-border syndicate tried to steal from Medicare, Medicaid and other U.S. health-care programs.

Renat Abramov, a dual citizen from Azerbaijan who, according to a profile on LinkedIn that matches his description, worked as a relationship manager at BoA starting in May 2019, potentially faces unspecified criminal charges after allegedly opening accounts for six medical-supply firms controlled by the transnational crime syndicate, or TCO, from 2021 to 2023.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn announced Monday that 11 suspects have been charged with money laundering, making false statements and other crimes linked to the scheme. In a separate statement, the Justice Department disclosed Monday that “a banker who facilitated the money laundering of fraud proceeds … through a U.S.-based bank” had also been detained.

Neither identified Abramov by name, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed in subsequent interview with ACAMS moneylaundering.com on Tuesday that he was the banker in question.

Bill Halldin, a senior vice president and media relations executive at BoA, said the company no longer employs Abramov.

“We have zero tolerance for inappropriate behavior,” said Halldin. “We fully cooperated with law enforcement on this matter.”

Possible evidence of Abramov’s ties to the TCO began to surface on June 23, when a federal magistrate unsealed all but six of the docket entries outlining the government’s case against him.

Prosecutors and investigators claimed in one of the unsealed records, a 30-page affidavit and criminal complaint, that Abramov’s duties at “U.S. Financial Institution 1” included advising current and prospective business clients, providing “financial solutions” and opening accounts.

The TCO, primarily based in Russia, bought dozens of companies as part of the scheme; used the medical records of hundreds of thousands of Americans to create false bills for catheters and glucose monitors; “deployed a range of tactics to circumvent … anti-money laundering controls” and ultimately made off with $941 million, some of which moved through Sheepshead Bay.

From there and other banks, members of the TCO transferred the fraud proceeds to shell-company accounts in China, Singapore, Pakistan, Israel, and Turkey, and at various points used cryptocurrency to further obscure their trail.

The FBI and the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services launched Operation Gold Rush, their joint investigation into the scheme, in the spring of 2023.

“The investigation revealed that several … individuals, both domestic and abroad, purchased … companies that were already enrolled with Medicare and other health-care benefit programs [then] changed their ownership information [to] … nominee owners, but failed to submit enrollment applications reflecting the change in ownership,” prosecutors disclosed.

Abramov allegedly opened an account for AGL USA, a medical supplier in Staten Island, New York, in March 2021, three years after the company’s formation, then opened accounts for five other businesses tied to the scheme from May to December 2023.

After receiving instructions on Telegram, nine alleged associates of the TCO purportedly met with Abramov at various locations, including the branch in Sheepshead Bay that employed him.

Abramov’s purported contacts included a dual national of the U.S. and Russia, four Estonian nationals, a Czech national and two other individuals who, like him, hold U.S. and Azerbaijani citizenship.

The U.S. Russia dual national also allegedly worked as a relationship manager at BoA, and one of the two U.S. Azerbaijani dual nationals held a comparable role at a second bank, identified only as “Financial Institution 2” in the unsealed records.

After learning that Abramov had booked a one-way flight from New York to Moscow without requesting a leave of absence from BoA, federal authorities took him into custody on Sept. 19, 2024, possibly at JFK International Airport.

Whether Abramov has cooperated with their investigation, and to what extent, were unclear by press time. His arraignment and other records of the government’s case against him remain under seal.

Abramov left federal custody on a $200,000 bond following his arrest and has received five court continuances since, each of which indicate that he and his attorneys have entered plea negotiations with the Justice Department. A handwritten note in the latest continuance, filed June 11, schedules a status conference for Aug. 11 “unless otherwise addressed.”

Court records show that after his arrest, Abramov obtained permission to travel to a farm in Westchester County and other locations in New York and New Jersey to meet with business clients, and that he vacationed in South Florida in March and April.

Two of his alleged co-conspirators are “providing information in hope of obtaining a favorable outcome in [their cases], including leniency at sentencing,” prosecutors disclosed.

Abramov’s attorneys and the Justice Department did not provide comment by press time.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Abramov worked as a teller and “universal banker” at Santander Bank in Brooklyn prior to joining BoA.

For the past 14 years he has also run his own business, Art of Smoke, a “premier hookah catering and sales” provider in New York City.

Contact Charlie Passut at cpassut@acams.org