An aspiring Los Angeles-area rapper who performs under the stage names ColdheartedAC and AC is now facing federal charges after prosecutors say he and two others tried to cash more than $8.1 million in stolen U.S. Treasury checks across Southern California. Ada William Obayuwana, who lives in Quartz Hill, was arrested Wednesday and made his initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court ahead of a detention hearing scheduled for Friday.
Obayuwana is one of three defendants named in a 25-count federal grand jury indictment, according to the KTLA report on his arrest. The indictment alleges the trio possessed more than 50 stolen Treasury checks worth over $8.1 million, with the stolen funds deposited into bank and credit union accounts spread across Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. Federal officials tied Obayuwana's arrest specifically to stolen tax refunds, though open questions remain about exactly how the checks entered the trio's hands in the first place.
A Car Full of Stolen Checks in Oceanside
According to the indictment, Obayuwana was found in December 2023 in Oceanside with more than 100 stolen or fraudulent checks in his car. Those checks in his vehicle were worth more than $6.1 million, and included 48 stolen U.S. Treasury checks worth approximately $2,555,417 covering tax refunds, veterans benefits and Social Security benefits, per the Department of Justice. Prosecutors say Obayuwana attempted to cash at least three Treasury tax refund checks worth a combined $382,109 between April 2022 and December 2023, and successfully cashed one of them.
Separately, prosecutors allege Obayuwana successfully cashed eight of the checks in his possession for approximately $1,701,507 and withdrew $229,109 from the proceeds. He is charged with nine counts of bank fraud, three counts of delivering stolen Treasury checks and one count of aggravated identity theft. The indictment alleges that Obayuwana, along with his co-defendants, forged or altered endorsements, names or addresses on the stolen checks and used business documents mimicking victims' names and identifiers to cash them at lenders throughout Southern California.
Co-Defendants in Westminster and San Diego
The second defendant, 28-year-old Albert Tai Vu of Westminster, faces five counts of delivering stolen Treasury checks, four counts of money laundering and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors allege Vu attempted to cash at least six stolen Treasury checks valued at $2,151,391 between April 2022 and December 2023, and successfully cashed two tax refund checks totaling $772,159.
The third defendant, 31-year-old Cassandra Marie Murillo, lives in San Diego and is charged with one count of delivering stolen Treasury checks. According to federal court records cited by CBS 8, Murillo allegedly opened four San Diego bank accounts in April 2023, deposited a $250,000 cashier's check alongside a $27,903 tax refund check, and withdrew nearly $150,000 in cash across a bank branch and an El Cajon casino in a single day in May 2023. All three defendants opened bank accounts to receive the fraudulently transferred funds, prosecutors allege.
Multi-Agency Investigation and Steep Potential Penalties
The federal prosecution is being led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Roldán following a joint investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to the Department of Justice. Under federal statutory guidelines, each defendant faces a maximum of 30 years in prison for each bank fraud count, up to 10 years for each money laundering or stolen check delivery count, and a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence for each aggravated identity theft count. Obayuwana remains in federal custody, while Murillo was expected to surrender to federal authorities in Los Angeles on August 31.
Obayuwana has built a modest public profile as a rapper alongside his alleged financial crimes, releasing tracks including “Magnate” in 2021 and “BUSY BODY” in 2025, and appearing on the digital hip-hop platform “A Trip to the Corner Store” as recently as June, according to Apple Music. All charges remain allegations at this stage, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Part of a Nationwide Surge in Stolen Check Fraud
The case fits into a broader national pattern of mail theft rings targeting government checks. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported in a September 2024 analysis that financial institutions filed 15,417 Bank Secrecy Act reports detailing mail theft-related check fraud exceeding $688 million during a single six-month review period following a 2023 national alert. A separate joint federal regulatory report published in June 2025 found that Suspicious Activity Reports filed for check, ACH and wire fraud surged 489% nationwide between 2014 and 2024, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
That growth has continued even as fewer Americans write paper checks: U.S. financial institutions filed 682,276 Suspicious Activity Reports specifically for check fraud in 2024, up from 665,505 the year before, per data from VALID Systems. Under federal regulations governing Treasury check indorsements, banks that present altered or fraudulently endorsed checks can be held liable to reimburse the federal government if they fail to properly verify payees, a rule that increasingly pushes verification responsibility onto financial institutions rather than the government alone.
The Southern California case joins a string of similar federal prosecutions Hoodline has tracked in recent weeks, including Houston mail carriers charged in a $23M ring and a Philadelphia trio accused in a $68M scheme. Investigators have not yet clarified whether the checks found in Obayuwana's car originated from postal insiders or from street-level mailbox thefts, leaving that key detail of the case unresolved for now.
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