NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- A New York University student was charged with bank fraud after depositing $43 million in bogus cashier's checks into Swiss and American accounts and trying to withdraw the money, prosecutors said Friday.
Hakan Yalincak, 21, also faces civil charges that he convinced two investors to sink $2.8 million into a nonexistent hedge fund and spent the money on luxury items and university donations.
He wept in court as U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan Margolis ordered him jailed until a detention hearing Thursday. "I have a graduation on Wednesday," Yalincak said.
Yalincak, a senior mathematics student whose parents donated $21 million to NYU last year, deposited millions of dollars in fake certified checks, then shuffled the money around to avoid getting caught, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
At one point, he had $25 million in Connecticut and nearly $18 million in Switzerland, prosecutors said. In March, Yalincak tried to withdraw $1.7 million, but by then the banks had discovered the counterfeit checks and frozen his accounts.
Details here from the AP via CNN's Law Center.