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Friday, October 26, 2012

BANK VICE PRESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING OVER $600,000


Obtained 20 Fraudulent Loans by Forging Signatures of Bank Officials and
Concealed the Loans by Manipulating Bank Records

        Baltimore, Maryland - Wanda Henderson, age 56, of Westover,
Maryland, pleaded guilty today to embezzlement by a bank employee.

        The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the
District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Stephen
E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

        According to Henderson's plea agreement, she was the Vice-President
and Executive Assistant to the President of Hebron Savings Bank and had
access to the bank's vault, the computer system and the bank's loan files.

        Beginning in approximately 2005, and continuing until April, 2011,
Henderson embezzled money from the bank by creating fraudulent loan
applications and fraudulent loan and line of credit accounts at the bank in
her name and in the names of family members.  Henderson forged the
signatures of various bank officials, including the President, as the
approving loan officer on the applications.  Henderson also forged the
initials of other bank employees on paperwork that authorized the transfer
of the loan proceeds into Henderson's personal checking account or the
checking account of a family member.

        Henderson concealed the fraudulent loans from bank officials by
manipulating and changing data in the bank records.  In particular,
Henderson altered the origination dates for the fraudulent loans so that
they did not appear on the monthly New Loan Reports and removed the
fraudulent loans from the bank's quarterly Large Borrowers' Reports.

        As the loans became due, Henderson obtained new fraudulent loans by
again creating accounts in the bank computer system and forging approval
signatures of other bank officials.  By using the proceeds from the new
loans to pay off the previous loans, Henderson was able to continue the
scheme until April 2011.


        Henderson obtained 20 fraudulent loans for herself or for members of
her family by forging signatures and manipulating bank records.  The total
unpaid principal balance on the fraudulent loans is $682,236.77 and of that
amount, $457,351.71 has gone into default.

        Henderson faces a maximum sentence of  30 years in prison and a fine
of $250,000 or twice the amount of gain or loss caused by the offense
conduct, whichever is greater.  U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has
scheduled  sentencing for February 7, 2013, at 2:00 p.m.

        Today's announcement is part of efforts underway by President
Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in
November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to
investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal
agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys' offices and state and local partners, it's the
broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies
ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made
great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of
financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal,
state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and
financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial
institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the
Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against
nearly 15,000 defendants including more than
2,700 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force,
visit www.stopfraud.gov<http://www.stopfraud.gov>.

        United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the FBI for its
work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant U.S. Attorney
Kathleen O. Gavin, who is prosecuting the case.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where was the bank president when all of this was happening from his own office? I find it hard to believe the BOD is condoning such behavior by taking absolutely no action in regards to lack of oversight from the bank president. i can assure you it means I have moved my money and will never consider doing a bank who's apparent position is to protect the "good ol boy" network at Hebron Savings - of course it helps when every new member of the Board is a friend and handpicked by the President himself - they are out of control.

Anonymous said...

WOW! And my money is there...I hope this is isolated!

Anonymous said...

It seems like her family members would have thought something was strange to all of a sudden have all this "extra cash" available.
Hard to believe that she would be the only one involved in this or have any knowledge of what was going on.

Anonymous said...

I agree with 10:35-Where was the Board? Aren't they required under FDIC regs to review and give final approval of loans?

Anonymous said...

The scary part is she did it over 6 years before getting caught

Anonymous said...

Nothing compared to the land deal Scott Tawes just scored with Greg Johnsons help in Hebron. Crooks and liars.