Federal prosecutors charged two people with bank fraud after authorities say they moved roughly $2.8 million from the accounts of a Long Island couple who were reported missing this spring.
Documents filed in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York allege that 36-year-old Yinye Wang of Roslyn and 55-year-old Qiuju Wu of Queens funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from accounts belonging to businessman Peishuan Fan, 48, and his wife, JuanJuan Zwang, 44, between June and August.
The missing couple was reported to Nassau County police on April 2 by a relative, about two days after they were last seen inside their Old Brookville residence, authorities said. The couple, who moved to the United States from China in 2022 and purchased the Gold Coast property with $3.8 million in cash, have two sons. Nassau County police said the investigation into their disappearance remains active.
According to a criminal complaint, the alleged scheme involved a series of large transfers and withdrawals executed in a methodical pattern. Prosecutors say that on or about June 30 about $890,000 was moved from one of the victims’ accounts into an account controlled by Wu; roughly $500,000 was transferred the next day. On July 1 the complaint says about $190,000 was shifted from Wu’s account to an account tied to a corporate entity associated with the suspect, and roughly $700,000 was subsequently withdrawn via a cashier’s check.
Prosecutors allege the second victim’s account was also targeted: on July 2, about $860,000 was transferred from that account, and later that day roughly $418,500 was withdrawn. Additional transfers identified in the complaint include about $630,000 taken on July 8 from the first victim’s account into Wu’s account and, two days later, approximately $435,000 moved from Wu’s account to an account linked to an unspecified corporate entity.
Surveillance footage cited in the complaint shows Wu inside two bank branches in Flushing, Queens, where some of the transactions occurred; Wang is shown joining her at one of the branches, prosecutors said. The complaint further alleges that both victims were added to Wu’s account at some point and that the account was listed as “joint with rights of survivorship.”
Prosecutors described the transfers as occurring between June and August and said the funds were moved in large sums over that period. The total alleged loss cited in the complaint is approximately $2.8 million.
Wang was arrested in California and released on bond, while Wu was taken into custody in Texas and remains jailed with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, federal authorities said. The complaint states Wu’s immigration status is unclear. Both defendants are due to appear in federal court in Central Islip later this week.
The federal complaint also details prior concerns about Wang, alleging a history of attempts to misuse identities. Authorities said Wang was flagged at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in December 2023 carrying multiple cell phones, identification cards and credit cards bearing different names.
Family members and their lawyer have provided limited public comment. John Carman, the attorney the couple’s older son hired after his parents disappeared, told Newsday earlier that the couple had eaten dinner with their sons the night before the younger son went away with friends and that the sons later returned to China. "The sons are grateful for the efforts of law enforcement tracking down these sophisticated criminals," Carman told Newsday.
Nassau County police and federal prosecutors continue to investigate both the alleged fraud and the couple’s disappearance. The charges filed in federal court center on the banking transactions described in the complaint; prosecutors said the criminal investigation is ongoing and that additional facts may emerge as authorities pursue the case.