Georgia Prisoner Allegedly Swindled $11 Million From Billionaire Movie Mogul While in Jail

Federal agents and prosecutors have been analyzing the evidence to determine how Cofield could pull off impersonating the billionaire to access his Charles Schwab account.

The prisoner, charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering, has pleaded not guilty. Two others charged were allegedly involved in the scheme: Eldridge Bennett and his 27-year-old daughter, Eliayah Bennett.

It is believed that by using contraband cell phones, Cofield convinced representatives at Charles Schwab that he was Kimmel. He arranged for the financial institution to wire $11 million to an Idaho company. That company then bought 6,106 American Eagle one-ounce gold coins.

He then allegedly arranged to use a private airplane to take the gold coins to Atlanta, where some of the money was then used to purchase a $4.4 million house in Buckhead.

“Cofield was a shrewd, intelligent individual who could con you out of millions,” said Jose Morales, who was the warden at the Special Management Unit while Cofield was there.

An advisor to Kimmel, Matthew Kamens, stated in an email that Kimmel wasn’t the victim because he defrauded the bank. He said the victim was the Charles Schwab Corp.

“Mr. Kimmel was unaffected by whatever occurred, and we have no knowledge of what occurred, either in terms of background or context,” Kamens wrote in the email.

Schwab stated that the bank reimbursed Kimmel for the total amount based on their policy for cases of unauthorized activity.

“As soon as Schwab was aware of suspected fraudulent activity, we launched an investigation, initiated measures to protect the client’s account and notified the authorities.”