The U.S. Attorney's Office says Jafaar Nyangoro and his accomplice from Germany gained access to the email account of a Fresno nonprofit.
Prosecutors say the pair instructed the county that money for the nonprofit should be sent to a different account.
But communications between the men show the bank reversed some transfers for suspected fraud.
Nyangoro and his accomplice then realized that the authorities had discovered their scheme.
Nyangoro is scheduled to be sentenced in September and faces the maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.