Jun 2, 2026
It’s not uncommon for prisoners to commit additional crimes while they’re serving their sentences. Few do so on the same scale as Arthur Cofield, however, who managed to organize an $11 million theft. That earned him a 135-month federal sentence for conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud. Instead, he’s on the run, having escaped the prison on May 26.
The manhunt continues for Cofield, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation offering a $10,000 reward. Authorities say he should be considered armed and dangerous. What’s turning people’s heads, though, is his ability to run such a sophisticated scheme from prison.
Stealing millions
The charges against Cofield were made in December 2020, when he was already serving time for armed robbery and facing an attempted murder charge. Using a contraband cell phone, Cofield was about to steal the identity of an unnamed person and get into their Charles Schwab account, authorities say. Working with a co-conspirator, who sent him a picture of the victim’s driver’s license and a Los Angeles utility bill, he was able to open a Schwab checking account.
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He eventually wired $11 million from the account to a precious metal dealer in Idaho, buying 6,106 American Gold Eagle coins. Cofield arranged to have those transported to Atlanta, where a separate co-conspirator used them to buy a house in one of the city’s most upscale neighborhoods.
He was sentenced and ordered to pay restitution to the victim in 2024.
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The growing threat of investment scams
Investment fraud schemes, like the one Cofield was sentenced for, are an increasingly lucrative way for cybercriminals to score big paydays. The 2025 Internet Crime Report from the FBI found that category to be one of the fastest growing threats for cybercrime today, jumping from $4.6 billion in losses in 2023 to $8.6 billion last year.
That’s despite the number of reported investment fraud schemes being considerably lower than better-known hacks, such as phishing and spoofing. Those saw 192,000 people suffering losses last year (versus just under 73,000 investment scheme reports), but the total losses for phishing and spoofing totaled just $215 million.
Cofield is said to have stolen more from within a prison than any inmate in American history. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it either. Before he was discovered, Cofield reportedly posted “Making millions from bed,” on Instagram. Most of the money Cofield took has not been recovered to date.
He might have been just as brazen about his escape plans, it turns out. When authorities discovered a phone in Cofield’s cell after his scheme was uncovered, one of the recent searches was for “U.S. marshal uniforms.” Authorities suspected he was plotting an escape then. They have not yet commented on how he managed to escape the minimum-security prison where he was serving his sentence.
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Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience at many of the internet's biggest news outlets. In addition to his activities as a writer, reporter and editor, Chris is also a frequent panel moderator and speaker at major conferences, including CES and South by Southwest.
