OC Billionaire Donald Bren Victim of $1.4 Million Identity Theft

A Los Angeles judge sealed a sentencing hearing today for a convicted bank robber who stole the identity of Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren and cashed most of a nearly $1.4 million tax refund check made out to the billionaire.

Moundir Kamil, 45, who was dubbed the “Give Me More Bandit” for his part in a series of 2003 bank robberies, acknowledged using Bren’s personal information to open an account at an East West Bank branch in February 2010 and depositing the check.

U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow closed the sentencing hearing to the public and no further information was immediately available from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Bren, the Orange County-based investor who is the majority owner of Manhattan’s MetLife Building, is worth $15.2 billion, making him the country’s richest real estate investor, according to Forbes.

His firm, The Irvine Co., owns 500 office properties, 50,000 apartments and more than 40 shopping centers.

Between February and April 2010, Kamil transferred or withdrew about $1.1 million from the phony bank account and transferred it to bank accounts in other names, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Kamil pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to a federal bank fraud charge in 2011.

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