METRO DETROIT – Four people, including a rapper from Rochester Hills, are accused of stealing $63 million in checks from the U.S. Postal Service and selling them online.

According to federal prosecutors, the scheme involved two postal employees who allegedly diverted and stole checks and “other negotiable instruments” from the mail, including tax refund checks issued by the U.S. Treasury.

The two postal workers would then give the stolen checks to two co-conspirators in exchange for money.

The stolen checks were sold online via Telegram Messenger — a cloud-based, cross-platform instant messaging application — on the channels “Whole Foods Slipsss” and “Uber Eats Slips.” Purchasers of the stolen checks — also known as “slips” — would buy the checks using various methods, including the mobile financial services platforms, and then attempt to fraudulently cash them.

“When public employees break the public trust, they enrich themselves at the expense of the American taxpayer and undermine the institution itself,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said in a statement. “We will find and prosecute those who exploit their position for personal gain.”

Four people were charged with conspiracy to aid and abet bank and wire fraud, a 30-year-felony: Rapper Jaiswan Williams, 31, of Rochester Hills, accused of administrating the “Whole Foods Slipsss” channel; Daquan Foreman, 30, of Eastpointe, accused of administering the “Uber Eats Slips” channel; U.S. Postal Service worker Vanessa Hargrove, 39, of Detroit; and U.S. Postal Service worker Crystal Jenkins, 31, of Detroit.

Sean McStravick, acting inspector in charge of the Postal Inspection Service’s Detroit Division, said the charges underscore the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s commitment to securing the nation’s mail system from those who seek to exploit it for personal and financial gain.

“Postal Inspectors utilize every tool at their disposal, including crucial partnerships, to uncover, investigate, and prosecute these schemes to the fullest extent of the law. Thank you to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our investigative partners for working tirelessly with us to bring charges in such an impactful mail theft investigation and maintain the integrity and respectability of the U.S. Postal Service,” he said in a statement.

Williams also faces charges for money laundering for activities dating back to October 2022, and for millions of dollars of fraudulent pandemic unemployment insurance benefit claims submitted between August and December 2020.