(New Haven, CT) - New Haven Judicial District State’s Attorney John P. Doyle, Jr. today announced that The Honorable Tracey Lee Dayton on August 12, 2026, sentenced Eric Christian, age 44, of Mansfield, to 20 years in prison, execution suspended after five years served, and five years of probation. On August 12, 2026, Christian pleaded guilty in Superior Court in New Haven to violating the Corrupt Organizations and Racketeering Act (CORA), in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53-395, and Conspiracy to Commit Larceny in the First Degree, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-48/ 53a-122.
Evidence showed the defendant led a check kiting ring that defrauded multiple Connecticut banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Investigators said the defendant recruited numerous accomplices between 2020 and 2024, causing documented losses of more than $350,000. The scheme involved depositing checks from accounts with insufficient funds, withdrawing the temporarily available money, and leaving banks to absorb the losses once the checks bounced. Twelve co-conspirators also face criminal charges in connection with the scheme.
The State acknowledges that while the primary victims in this case were financial institutions, crimes involving larceny, theft, identity theft, and racketeering often remain undetected for long periods due to their sophisticated nature. The State commends the Connecticut State Police and the New Haven Police Department for conducting a thorough, yearslong investigation into the defendant’s activities.
Beyond the financial institutions, approximately 30 to 40 individuals were also victimized by the defendant. Many of these individuals had their identities and personal information exploited by the defendant. Evidence shows that the defendant actively recruited vulnerable individuals to serve as intermediaries in furtherance of his criminal scheme.
Communications obtained during the investigation showed that the defendant deliberately preyed upon individuals facing severe financial hardship, mental health challenges, homelessness and substance abuse issues, enticing them with promises of easy money. He sought people who could open checking accounts with small sums of money that he provided and exploited their vulnerabilities, failing to pay the compensation he promised, leaving many of them to face arrest and prosecution. After compensating them for opening the accounts, the defendant collected their personal identification information and ATM card numbers. He then directed them to deposit fraudulent checks that allowed for immediate partial fund availability. The defendant subsequently traveled to ATMs across the state to withdraw those funds. A significant number of these victims provided statements to law enforcement, identifying and implicating the defendant as the organizer and leader of this criminal operation.
At the time of his arrest, a search warrant was executed at his home where the Connecticut State Police located the identifying information, documents, drivers’ licenses, personal identifying information, and banking information of almost 40 people.
The case was investigated by the Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection’s Connecticut State Police Statewide Organized Crime Investigative Task Force with Detective Michael Grabowski serving as the lead investigator. Because criminal activity spanned multiple jurisdictions across Connecticut, the investigation required close coordination with numerous agencies and offices, including the New Haven Police Department and the State’s Attorneys in Hartford, Bridgeport, Ansonia-Milford, Tolland, Stamford-Norwalk, the Statewide Prosecution Bureau within the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and the New Haven Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by State’s Attorney Doyle, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Seth R. Garbarsky, Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney Dean Hanafin, and Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Bransfield, with assistance from Inspector Michael Mastropetre. State’s Attorney Doyle extends his appreciation to the Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection’s Connecticut State Police Statewide Organized Crime Investigative Task Force for their investigation.