A man from Waxahachie, Texas, has been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for his role in a SIM card-swapping fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of nearly $1.8 million. The announcement was made by United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.
Kimionte Bennett, 30, was indicted in July 2025 and pleaded guilty in October 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor handed down the sentence and ordered Bennett to pay $1,769,438 in restitution.
Court documents show that Bennett organized several “SIM swap” attacks with co-conspirators. In these attacks, they gained control over victims’ cell phone numbers by reassigning them to SIM cards under their control. This allowed them to intercept multi-factor authentication codes and access victims’ cryptocurrency accounts, from which they stole funds.
The losses suffered by victims totaled $1,769,438 according to court records.
During the sentencing hearing, one victim described the impact of the crime: “These weren’t just digital numbers on a screen; they represented my family’s savings, our future security, our dreams. I had planned to use that money to build a stable future for my [child]—[their] education, our home, our peace of mind. In an instant, it was all gone. Coming from a family whose parents came to this country with cheap plastic suitcases, and zero money, it was absolutely devastating . . . In an instant, that same American dream that my parents worked so hard to build, and continued through me, vanished.”
Two other individuals involved in the scheme were also prosecuted. Leticia Contreras of Dallas received a 57-month prison sentence while Osvaldo Guajardo of Houston was sentenced to 30 months.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including FBI Omaha Field Division, FBI Dallas Field Division, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, FBI Detroit Field Division and FBI Cyber Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric B. Chen, Matthew Weybrecht and Justin Beck.
