Two California men face up to 30 years in jail for allegedly operating a scheme that fraudulently accessed the bank accounts of elderly victims and stole their funds.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California, a 17-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday charges brothers-in-law Ayman Alaaraj and Ahmad Nassar with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Court documents show that in May 2023, Nassar took over several bank accounts belonging to two elderly victims at two separate banks using sophisticated techniques, such as porting over the phone number belonging to one of the victims.

The method enabled Nassar to access the accounts and bypass the banks’ two-factor authentication protection. Nassar, occasionally assisted by Alaaraj, then drained the accounts and ran up unpaid credit card debits, causing more than $794,000 in losses to the victims.

The two men then moved the stolen money through the pass-through accounts created under the victim’s names, as well as funneled $100,000 through Alaaraj’s businesses.

The defendants eventually transferred the money to themselves using ATM cash withdrawals, personal checks, Western Union transactions and Zelle transactions. They also used the stolen funds to pay credit cards, engage in online gambling and buy a Mercedes.

If found guilty, the two men face up to 30 years of jail time and a $1 million fine for each count of bank fraud. They also face a mandatory prison term of two years and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or gross loss, for the aggravated identity theft count.

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In a nutshell: Sony’s PC porting strategy has been clear from the start. It is in no rush to follow Xbox’s multiplatform strategy. It wants to preserve the value of the PlayStation 5 by making sure high-end exclusives like Spider-Man and God of War remain showcases for the console first – and only reach PC when the timing feels right.

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst says the company is continuing to take a “measured” approach to porting major first-party games to PC. Although Sony has expanded into the PC market in recent years, it has done so far more slowly than competitors like Microsoft, which now releases most of its games simultaneously on Xbox and PC.

“We’re really thoughtful about bringing our franchises off console to reach new audiences,” Hulst said during a business segment presentation on Friday. “We’re taking a very measured, very deliberate approach in doing that.”

Single-player games such as Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok have launched on PC well after their PlayStation 5 debut. Sony designs first-party releases to showcase its hardware and drive console sales. Maintaining an exclusivity window protects the PlayStation brand’s value while allowing the company to grow its audience on PC.

Stellar Blade and TLoU Part II Remastered are the most recent PC ports from PlayStation Studios.

Video Games Chronicle says Hulst explained to investors that PlayStation exclusives serve as a key point of differentiation for the brand, designed to highlight performance and quality that only the console can deliver. He emphasized that Sony is deliberate in deciding if and when to bring these titles to other platforms, ensuring players receive the best possible experience on each.

While PlayStation began porting very old exclusives to PC a few years ago, more recent adaptations have been newer. Stellar Blade, which landed on PS5 in April 2024, has seen tremendous success on PC since its port launched less than a week ago. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida said that despite not offering day-one releases like Xbox, Sony is “printing money” with PC ports. Indeed, in 2023, Sony projected an increase in revenue from PC sales of nearly half a billion dollars.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino said the company is closely monitoring player behavior to inform its strategy. Responding to Microsoft’s move toward simultaneous multiplatform releases, Nishino expressed confidence in Sony’s current approach, noting that healthy competition drives innovation across the gaming industry. While new engagement models are emerging, he emphasized that Sony sees no urgent need to change course.

“We think that competition in the business … pushes us to innovate,” Nishino-san said. “We are confident and committed to our current strategy, and there isn’t an urgent need for us to pivot.”

Sony has said it plans to increase its efforts in live service and PC gaming. However, for now, its biggest games will remain exclusive to PlayStation consoles for a period, reinforcing the platform’s role as the premier place to experience these flagship titles before they arrive elsewhere.