A former RBC employee allegedly accessed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s banking profile in June.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
A former Royal Bank of Canada RY-T employee is facing criminal charges after allegedly accessing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s banking profile and participating in a fraud scheme believed to be linked to organized crime.
Ibrahim El-Hakim, who was then a client adviser, allegedly accessed Mr. Carney’s profile on June 17 at an RBC branch near Parliament Hill.
The 23-year-old Ottawa resident has been charged with fraud over $5,000, unauthorized use of a computer, identity theft and trafficking in identity information, according to court documents.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
Cheryl Brean, a spokesperson for RBC, said the bank worked closely with law enforcement to support their investigation.
“While we cannot comment on specifics of matters before the court, we can share that we independently identified unauthorized system access, took immediate action to engage authorities and the individual named is no longer employed at the bank,” Ms. Brean said in a statement.
According to an affidavit from an RCMP officer, RBC’s director of security interviewed Mr. El-Hakim on June 27 as part of the bank’s internal investigation.
During the interview, Mr. El-Hakim, who was hired in 2022, admitted to participating in fraud, according to the court document. He said he had been lured into the scheme by someone on the Telegram app using the alias “AI WORLD,” which is believed to be a group linked to organized crime, the affidavit said.
The Telegram user asked him to create banking profiles, obtain credit cards and access customer profiles, paying him $500 for each completed request, according to the affidavit. Mr. El-Hakim received a total of $5,000 in payment to his accounts at Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the document said.
According to RBC’s internal investigation, the total credit-card fraud amounts to $68,500. The majority of the alleged fraud occurred in June and was captured on camera, although some occurred earlier, according to the affidavit.
Mr. El-Hakim also allegedly accessed a banking profile belonging to a Justin Trudeau, according to the affidavit, although the RCMP said the account did not belong to the former prime minister.
The RCMP officer’s affidavit was filed in Montreal as part of a request to preserve security footage held by Tyco Integrated Security.
Mr. El-Hakim could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Ronald Guertin, declined to comment, noting that he has not yet received all of the police information regarding the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office also declined to comment, noting that the matter is in the hands of the RCMP.
Mr. El-Hakim, who was arrested on July 10 and released on a promise to appear, is scheduled to next appear in court on Oct. 1.
According to the affidavit, the RCMP’s Eastern Region Integrated National Security Enforcement Team began investigating the matter in early July.
Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams, or INSETs, are multiagency teams led by the RCMP that work to combat the activities of terrorist groups and individuals who threaten Canada’s national security.
The RCMP said its investigation does not indicate there is any threat to the Prime Minister’s safety or national security. “However, as soon as criminal offences target the Canadian Prime Minister, it is the responsibility of our INSET teams to carry out the investigation,” the law enforcement agency said in an email.
With a report from Nicolas Van Praet