Former banker pleads guilty to embezzlement in Louisiana

A former president of Farmer's State Bank has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $100,000 in bank funds from July 1998 through January 2004.




The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/onq2LL ) Steve J. Broussard entered a guilty plea in federal court Monday to one count of misapplication by a bank employee and officer, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to 30 years.



Broussard had resigned from the Church Point bank about four years before he was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2008 on 14 counts of misapplication by a bank employee and officer in excess of $1,000 and eight counts for less than $1,000.



According to the factual basis for his guilty plea, Broussard admitted to embezzling and willfully misapplying $119,981 in funds, credits and money, of which $104,349 is owed in restitution to the bank.



Among the ways the money was spent:



— Broussard hired three men as contract laborers for the bank and then directed them to spend about 30 percent of their time working on his personal property, although they were being paid by the bank, the filing says.



From 1998 through 2004, Elroy Meche, Felton James Bellard and Joseph Charlot were paid $231,750, of which $69,254 went toward work performed on Broussard's property, the filing says.



—Between June 2002 and September 2004, Broussard fraudulently received $38,930 in cash advances from ATMs using his bank-issued credit card and a bank-issued card linked to an ATM testing account at the bank, the filing says.



Of that, $24,705 has not been repaid to the bank, the filing says.



—From September 1998 through December 2003, Broussard had the bank purchase $13,149 in cooking supplies for the Circle S Cooking Team, one of his private activities.



Only about 50 percent of the team's activities served a legitimate bank purpose, the filing says.



—Between November 2002 and December 2002, Broussard directed the bank to give out a loan to newly elected Church Point City Councilman Melckisadech Green in order to gain influence on the city council, the filing says.



Green did not qualify for the loan, which ultimately cost the bank $1,294 when Green defaulted and failed to repay it, the filing says.



—Between January 1999 and July 2004, Broussard charged $1,715 to his bank-issued credit card for unauthorized personal items at Wal-Mart, the filing says.



Broussard will be sentenced at a later date.

Louisiana Bank Employee Charged With Embezzling $280K From Elderly Customer Accounts

Brandy Rogers, 31, of New Iberia, Louisiana, has been arrested and charged with embezzling some $280,000 from elderly customer accounts at Teche Federal Bank where she had been employed as a customer service representative. Rogers allegedly siphoned monies from customer accounts over a period of several months. She has been charged with unauthorized use of an access card for theft, identity theft, theft of assets of an aged person, bank fraud, forgery, computer fraud and money laundering.

Louisiana bank worker gets prison for embezzlement

A Lafayette man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for embezzling money from Chase Bank customers.A federal judge on Monday sentenced 30-year-old Christopher P. Smith to 41 months in prison and ordered him to pay $228,350 in restitution to the bank.Smith was a personal banker at a Chase Bank branch in Lafayette and was responsible for opening and managing customers' accounts. Prosecutors said he made $231,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from customer accounts for his personal use.

Jefferson, Louisiana Woman Pleads Guilty to Bank Larceny

JESSICA CARVER MATHERNE, a resident of Jefferson, Louisiana, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to a one count bill of information for bank larceny, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, from approximately April 1, 2005, through approximately June 30, 2005, MATHERNE, who was employed as a bank teller at JP Morgan Chase Bank in Harvey, Louisiana, wrote checks against a closed credit union account and deposited those checks into an JP Morgan Chase Bank account in her name. The defendant admitted that she withdrew the funds from the JP Morgan Chase account before the checks from the closed credit union account were returned. In all, the defendant stole approximately $8,852 in funds belonging to JP Morgan Chase Bank.
MATHERNE faces a possible maximum term of imprisonment of ten (10) years, a $250,000 fine, restitution, and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 17, 2010.
The case was investigated by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Chester.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Banker Sentenced for Embezzling More Than $175,000

JEREMY J. RAYBURN, age 35, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced in federal court today before United States District Court Judge Lance M. Africk to 18 months of imprisonment for one count of bank larceny, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, Judge Africk ordered RAYBURN to be placed on three (3) years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, during which time the defendant will be under federal supervision and risks an additional term of imprisonment should he violate any terms of his supervised release. RAYBURN has also been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $178,224.80, which is the full amount of his embezzlement. According to court documents, RAYBURN was employed as a personal banker at JP Morgan Chase Bank in Metairie, Louisiana, from May 1, 2006 through July 26, 2007. RAYBURN realized that he had the ability to identify bank customers whose accounts were on dormant status, because they were either deceased or infrequently used. RAYBURN was then able to override this dormant status. RAYBURN then further devised a way to access and steal this money, in his position as a personal banker.
One particular customer, A.B., had been deceased for nearly 11 years, and RAYBURN decided to use this customer’s account, as a central repository for stolen funds from other customer accounts. According to the factual basis, RAYBURN caused some of the following fraudulent transactions: a transfer of $64,404.40 from the account of a deceased customer with the initials, M.S. to deceased customer A.B.’s account; a transfer of $55,002.53 from customer H.B.’s account to deceased customer A.B.’s account; a transfer of $26,357.68 from customer C.R.’s account to deceased customer A.B.’s account; and a transfer of $14,453.48 from customer D.H.’s account to deceased customer A.B.’s account.
RAYBURN was able to transfer these funds from account to account, by making counter withdrawals and forging the customer signatures in order to generate cashier’s checks. RAYBURN would then deposit these cashier’s checks into A.B.’s acccount. RAYBURN then requested that three (3) ATM cards be issued on A.B.’s account and then made ATM cash withdrawals from A.B.’s account at JP Morgan Chase and other banks in and around the New Orleans area. During a thirty (30) day period in 2007, RAYBURN withdrew nearly $25,000 in cash from different ATM’s located in the area.
RAYBURN sometimes used wire transfers to route money from A.B.’s account, to other accounts at other banks that RAYBURN controlled, including E-Trade. On June 6, 2008, RAYBURN transferred funds from various E-Trade accounts (funded by the customers’ stolen money) into one account, and then wired $100,000 to a JP Morgan Chase account. On June 19, 2008, RAYBURN withdrew $103,501.12 from this same JP Morgan Chase account, in the form of a cashier’s check. This cashier check was then used to pay a title company for a down payment on a home that RAYBURN purchased in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the same day.
The case was investigated by the Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jon Maestri.

Former Bank Official in New Orleans Sentenced for Bank Theft and Larceny

HONG NGUYEN, age 41, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to twenty-one (21) months' imprisonment for bank theft and larceny, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten today. In addition, Judge Lemelle imposed three (3) years of supervised release during which time the defendant will be under federal supervision and risks an additional term of confinement should she violate any terms of his supervised release. In addition, NGUYEN was ordered to pay restitution in the amount $1,090,000.00 to Capital One Bank.

According to reports, NGUYEN was an assistant manager in charge of branch operations and customer relations at Capital One Bank in the New Orleans, Louisiana area. During the course of her employment and over a period of several years, as an assistant manager in charge of bank operations and customer service, NGUYEN had access to the accounts and computers of the bank. NGUYEN would cash out debit tickets and cashier’s checks drawn from the lines of credit of customer’s accounts and then concealed these thefts by debiting other line of credit accounts. NGUYEN embezzled approximately $1,090,000.00.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Juan M. Masini.