Banker stole millions from customers — and then lost it on the stock market, feds say

A banker stole over $2 million from his clients in New York City and could now face decades in prison, federal officials said.

The banker, a 32-year-old man, was arrested on March 1 in Brooklyn, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

He is accused of abusing “his position as a business relationship manager at a financial institution to steal millions from his clients, including elderly clients,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the release.

An attorney for the former manager could not immediately be reached by McClatchy News.

His scheme involved secretly siphoning funds from at least five customer accounts between 2020 and 2022, officials said.

In one instance, he made an unauthorized $450,000 wire transfer from a 74-year-old client’s account, officials said.

He also deposited stolen funds into client accounts in order to cover his tracks, according to officials.

While some of the stolen money was transferred into accounts associated with his girlfriend and mother, the majority was spent on securities, officials said.

He then “lost most of the money he stole in the market through trading,” officials said.

The racket was eventually uncovered by the bank after a concerned client asked to speak to a supervisor at a Brooklyn branch in July 2022.

The client, a 74-year-old woman, said she was worried about inconsistencies in her bank statements, according to officials. A statement provided to her by the manager reflected an account balance of about $900,000, but a statement mailed to her residence abroad revealed a balance of only $13,000.

Shortly thereafter, the manager accused in the scheme admitted to defrauding clients and was fired by the bank, officials said.

He now faces charges of bank fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, which carry a combined maximum sentence of more than 80 years in prison if he’s convicted, officials said.

This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Banker stole millions from customers — and then lost it on the stock market, feds say."