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| Kenneth L. Wainstein | |
PRESS RELEASE |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Former SunTrust Bank employee sentenced for stealing approximately $70,000 to
pay for her gambling habit
Washington, D.C. - Michelle L. Newman, a former employee for SunTrust Bank, was sentenced on her prior guilty plea to bank theft in connection with the theft of approximately $70,000 from the bank, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, announced today.
Newman, 32, of Woodbridge, Virginia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Honorable James Robertson to 3 years of probation, including 4 months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $70,797.30 in restitution to the bank. During her prior guilty plea, Newman admitted that from January of 2002 until July 26, 2005, she submitted fraudulent expenses for alleged bank client functions and deposited the resulting credited funds into her own personal checking account to use for gambling.
As part of her guilty plea, Newman acknowledged that she worked at SunTrust Bank in the Wealth Management Division until July 2005. It was in July of 2005, when officials at SunTrust became concerned about general ledger entries made by Newman for alleged client functions and expenses or supplies that reportedly had been requested by specific team leaders and approved by Newman’s supervisors. The SunTrust officials noted that a number of ledger entries for the debit ticket to pay these expenses made during the first six months of 2005 had forged signatures authorizing payments and that the offsetting credit ticket for each entry was deposited into Newman’s personal checking account.
An investigation of this matter showed more than 400 debits with corresponding credits being made to Newman’s checking account. The respective team leaders, however, all denied that the events took place or, if there was a function, the team leaders stated it would not have required the expense submitted by Newman. Each of the team leaders said they would have used their corporate credit cards for client entertainment. Newman’s supervisors also stated that the expenses would not have been authorized and the authorizing signatures were not their respective signatures.
Newman submitted her resignation to SunTrust Bank on July 14, 2005. On July 26, 2005, Newman admitted to a bank investigator that she had developed a gambling habit in early 2002 and used the credits from the fraudulent general ledger expense entries to pay for her gambling. A review of bank records for 2002 through 2005 showed a loss to SunTrust Bank of over $70,000 from Newman’s activities.
In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Wainstein and Acting Assistant Director Persichini praised the hard work of FBI Special Agent Kelly Bender, who investigated this matter. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Butler, who prosecuted this matter.