Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have charged a 56-year-old Turnersville man with bank fraud and mail fraud, accusing him of posing as an authorised agent of a financial institution to divert about $2.8 million in unclaimed investment payments — and then trying to collect more than $9.2 million more from the State of Texas. Robert Armstrong was charged by criminal complaint, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced on Tuesday, November 10. The charges are accusations, and Armstrong is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, via NJTODAY, Nov 11, 2026
Armstrong made an initial appearance on November 4 in federal court in Camden before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Pascal and is being detained, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Turnersville is an unincorporated community in Washington Township, Gloucester County, in southern New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
Source: New Jersey Globe, Nov 11, 2026
How the unclaimed-money scheme allegedly worked
According to the complaint, a financial institution had invested in a hedge fund that used a bank subsidiary as trustee to pay money out to investors. The institution did not claim all of the disbursements it was owed, and some of that money stayed in trust for it at the bank. Prosecutors say Armstrong sent the bank false documents claiming he was authorised to collect the money on the institution's behalf. The bank then issued a cheque for about $2.8 million — $2,806,524, the New Jersey Globe reported — payable to the institution, which Armstrong allegedly deposited into an account he controlled.
Over time, other unclaimed disbursements became escheatment funds — dormant assets that are turned over to a state's custody after a period of inactivity. Because the institution's last known address was in Texas, that money was sent to Texas to be held in trust. Armstrong allegedly submitted false paperwork to Texas, both online and through the U.S. mail, claiming to be an agent of the institution authorised to receive the funds, and on that basis sought about $9.25 million more. As part of the scheme, prosecutors say, he created a fake company, opened a bank account in its name, and used without permission the identity of a person who had served as the institution's president and chief financial officer. Texas officials ultimately denied his claim, the Globe reported.
The second alleged scheme: tens of thousands of invoices to schools
In a separate scheme described in the same complaint, Armstrong allegedly set up a sham school supply company and used a mass-mailing service to send tens of thousands of false invoices to schools for workbooks and other educational materials that were never provided. At least 43 schools have paid, losing at least $11,309 so far, according to the complaint. The individual amounts were small — which is precisely how invoice schemes of this kind are alleged to work: a bill small enough to be paid by a busy school office without anyone checking whether anything was ever ordered or delivered.
When money owed to someone sits unclaimed for years — an unpaid investment distribution, a forgotten account — the holder eventually must hand it to the state where the owner was last known to live. The state holds it in trust until the real owner claims it. Prosecutors allege Armstrong tried to step into the owner's place twice: first at the bank, then at the State of Texas, which was holding the later funds.
Who investigated, and what the charges carry
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Philadelphia Division and special agents of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Office of Inspector General, under Special Agent in Charge Brian Tucker, with help from the Washington Township Police Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The mail fraud charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offence.
Why this matters beyond Gloucester County
Unclaimed-property fraud targets money that its real owners have forgotten — which means no victim is watching for it to go missing. New Jersey holds a large Punjabi and South Asian community, including many families in the Philadelphia–South Jersey corridor who run small businesses, hold investment accounts, and receive exactly the kind of official-looking mail this case is about. The school-invoice half of the complaint carries a practical warning for every school office and small business: an invoice that arrives by mail is not proof that anything was ordered, and the cheapest check — asking who placed the order — is the one that stops the loss.
What happens next
Armstrong remains detained after his November 4 initial appearance. The complaint is the first step in a federal prosecution; the case would ordinarily proceed toward a grand jury indictment and arraignment in the District of New Jersey, where prosecutors must prove the bank fraud and mail fraud counts beyond a reasonable doubt. No trial date has been announced. Awaaz Punjab will follow the case as court filings develop.