Georgia inmate accused of impersonating California billionaire to steal $11M while inside max security lock-up
Arthur Lee Cofield allegedly impersonated billionaire movie mogul Sidney Kimmel in one of the biggest heists pulled off from inside an American prison
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Georgia inmate accused of stealing $11 million reportedly impersonated billionaires, including a California movie mogul, while inside a maximum-security lock-up.
Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., a 31-year-old gang member serving 14 years for armed robbery, is accused of using contraband cell phones from inside the Georgia Department of Corrections’ Special Management Unit to impersonate California billionaire Sidney Kimmel and open a fraudulent bank account in his name.
Cofield allegedly arranged for $11 million to be wired from Kimmel’s Charles Schwab account to a company in Idaho for the purchase of 6,106 American Eagle one-ounce gold coins.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Federal prosecutors believe Cofield then allegedly arranged for a private plane to transport the coins to Atlanta, where some funds were used to purchase a $4.4 million house in Buckhead.
GEORGIA K-9 UNIT UNCOVERS $172K OF FENTANYL IN PACKAGE SHIPPED FROM CALIFORNIA
This file photo shows producers Sidney Kimmel, John Penotti and actor Gil Birmingham arrive at the Los Angeles Red Carpet Screening Of "Hell Or High Water" at ArcLight Cinemas on August 10, 2016, in Hollywood, California. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for CBS Films)
The scheme is believed to amount to one of the largest heists pulled off from inside an American prison.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kimmel, chairman and CEO of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based company behind films such as "Hell or High Water," "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Moneyball," has since been reimbursed in full by the bank, but the case shines a light on the corrections’ department’s failures to curb illegal activity even from inside its own maximum-security facility meant to house Georgia’s hardened criminals.
Cofield reportedly had been transferred to the Special Management Unit after allegedly ordering from inside a Georgia state prison for gang members to gun down one of his romantic rivals in Atlanta.
Sidney Kimmel attends the 2016 National Museum Of American Jewish History "Only In America" Award Gala at Gotham Hall on June 1, 2016, in New York City. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)
A limited amount of information has been publicly reported about the conspiracy case since the Justice Department first announced in December 2020 that Cofield and two co-conspirators on the outside, Eldridge Bennett and his daughter Eliayah Bennett, had been indicted for stealing $11 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}All three have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering
This file photo shows Georgia Department of Corrections officers check a vehicle at the entrance to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia, on September 21, Sept. 20, 2011.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in reviewing court filings and other documents, first publicly identified Kimmel as the alleged victim in a report published on Friday, suggesting there may be others.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At a previous bond hearing, federal prosecutors said evidence suggested Cofield accessed an account belonging to Nicole Wertheim, the wife of Florida billionaire Herbert Wertheim, and stole $2.25 million, the Journal reported. No charges have been filed in connection to that case so far.