14 DAY TRIAL // 32-year-old LeRoy Brown, a former personal banker from Washington D.C. pleded guilty yesterday in front of a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge. The man admitted to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and participating in an identity theft scheme.
According to U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., the scheme involved $121,400 (around €94,000) in forged checks. The man agreed to cover the losses he caused to Wells Fargo, totaling around $72,000 (€56,000), but that doesn’t get him off the hook.
He could still be sentenced to 5 years in prison, not to mention the additional monetary penalties he might be forced to pay.
Apparently, between November 2009 and January 2010, Brown and his accomplices conspired to steal funds from the accounts of Wachovia Bank, currently Wells Fargo.
The suspect was working for the bank when someone offered him money in exchange for customer information that could be utilized to fraudulently obtain funds. He received $2,000 (€1,500) for handing over the details of 7 bank accounts with balances of at least $15,000 (€12,000).