Ex-UMB Employee Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

A former employee of UMB Financial (UMBF) in Kansas City, Mo., has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $650,000 from the company.

Lisa Taylor used her position as a closing account specialist at UMB Bank to create 377 fraudulent checks between May 2006 and October 2010, according to a press release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Missouri. She admitted to her role in the bank fraud conspiracy in a Kansas City federal court, the release said.

Taylor's job at UMB required her to request refund checks for customers with closed accounts. When a deposit earmarked for a closed account arrived, the money would be deposited into a general account at UMB. Taylor would then request that a refund check be issued from the UMB account and sent to the customer's last known address.

Taylor took advantage of her position by making fraudulent refund requests for checks payable to friends and family members, with whom she split the proceeds, according to the release. She also requested checks payable to names she made up, forged the signatures and deposited the money in her own account, according to the release.

Eleven of Taylor's friends and family members have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme, according to the release.

Taylor is required to pay the United States government $650,659 as part of her plea agreement. She faces up to 30 years in federal prison without parole, a fine of up to $1 million and an order of restitution, according to the release. Her sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.