Virginia Man to Plead Guilty to $7.1 Million Wire Fraud Scheme

BOSTON – A dual national of the United States and the Philippines was charged and has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $7.1 million from his employer over the course of a decade. Ricardo Fontanilla, 66, of Fairfax, Va., was charged with wire fraud and has agreed to plead guilty. Fontanilla was arrested at his home in May 2026 and was later ordered detained pending trial. According to court documents, between 2013 and December 2025, Fontanilla worked at the Victim Company, a global financial services company which had its U.S. headquarters in Massachusetts, as a Security Administration Services employee. Fontanilla’s role allegedly gave him access to the Victim Company’s financial systems, which tracked borrowers’ mortgage payments in connection with residential mortgage-backed securities – a kind of financial instrument that allows investors to purchase ownership in a pool of residential mortgage loans. Beginning in 2013, Fontanilla allegedly altered the Victim Company’s records to make it appear that the Victim Company was receiving excess payments from mortgage servicing companies that were collecting borrower payments. As alleged, Fontanilla fraudulently transferred these supposedly “excess” payments back to one mortgage servicer (Company A), and then falsely informed Company A representatives that the Victim Company had mistakenly refunded these amounts. In directing Company A to return the mistaken refunds to the Victim Company, Fontanilla allegedly directed Company A to wire the funds to a personal bank account he controlled at Wells Fargo. Records obtained during the investigation show Fontanilla allegedly received more than $7.1 million in wires from Company A between 2013 and 2025, and that Fontanilla allegedly made payments from his accounts of more than $4.78 million in personal credit card payments to Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and American Express; $873,000 in mortgage and loan payments; more than $200,000 in cash and cash-equivalent withdrawals in the United States and abroad; at least $300,000 in deposits to brokerage accounts at JPMorgan Chase; and approximately $125,000 in payments to Toyota – amounts far exceeding the approximately $83,000 annual salary Fontanilla received from the Victim Company. According to court documents, Fontanilla’s spending included substantial purchases of luxury brands and premium air travel through the United States, the Caribbean and Asia. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, restitution, and forfeiture. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Brian Tucker, Special Agent in Charge, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Office of Inspector General made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto, Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Frauds Unit, is prosecuting the case. The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.