Former RBC employee guilty in fraud scheme that accessed prime minister's banking data

OTTAWA · An Ontario court has found a former Royal Bank of Canada employee guilty on three criminal counts related to a fraud scheme that involved accessing Prime Minister Mark Carney's banking profile. Ibrahim El-Hakim pleaded guilty in August to fraud over $5,000, unauthorized use of a computer and identity theft. According to an agreed statement of facts, El-Hakim worked at an RBC branch in downtown Ottawa and was recruited by a person he believed was linked to organized crime. The RCMP launched an investigation last year after a complaint from the bank, and the case was handled by its national security team because it involved the prime minister.

The mechanics of the fraud

El-Hakim admitted to an RBC corporate security official in late June 2025 that he had been recruited on the Telegram messaging app by someone using the alias AI WORLD. He stated he took part because he was in financial difficulty. Between November 2023 and June 2025, he opened at least 43 fraudulent accounts at the bank. AI WORLD would send him detailed personal information, including names, social insurance numbers and passport data, with instructions to create profiles and link credit products. El-Hakim would then send back information like online banking passwords. For his work, he received e-transfers of $500 per account into his other bank accounts, totalling at least $5,000.

After his interview, RBC discovered El-Hakim had used his internal system access to run unauthorized searches on customer profiles. On June 17, 2025, he looked at the banking profiles of Carney, Justin Trudeau and another individual. The statement clarifies that the Trudeau account accessed "was determined not to belong to the former prime minister." Surveillance video showed El-Hakim consulting a smart watch and using his personal cellphone while at his workstation, alternating his gaze between the phone and his computer screen during these searches.

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Security breach and consequences

The court document notes that El-Hakim had completed RBC's training on ethics, privacy and fraud prevention. "Mr. El-Hakim committed these offences despite having received training in ethics, privacy, security and fraud prevention as part of his employment at RBC," the statement says. It adds that "he used customer information provided by third parties, opened fraudulent accounts, attempted to obtain credit products, accessed customer information without authorization, verified and transmitted identifying information, and received compensation for his participation." As a direct result of the identity theft, RBC paid $14,634 to provide two years of credit monitoring for 27 affected clients.

RCMP Cpl. Erique Gasse said in September 2025 that the investigation found no threat to Carney's safety or to national security. The involvement of the prime minister meant the file was automatically assigned to the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Montreal. El-Hakim failed to appear for a sentencing hearing late last month, and his lawyer informed Ontario Court Justice Norm Boxall that his client was no longer in Ottawa. A new sentencing date has been set for later this month.

With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and CBC News