Ex-Citigroup Executive Foster Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud

[alp227]

Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Gary Foster, a former Citigroup Inc. vice president accused of embezzling $22.9 million from the bank, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Foster, 35, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was arrested in June at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after returning from Bangkok. Foster, who worked in the bank’s treasury finance department, transferred money from various Citigroup accounts and ultimately to his own account at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“I executed a scheme to defraud Citigroup,” Foster told U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano today. “I directed funds to be wired into my personal account at JPMorgan.”

Under nonbinding sentencing guidelines, Foster faces a maximum of about 10 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Yaeger told Vitaliano.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-06/ex-citigroup-executive-foster-pleads-guilty-to-bank-fraud.html

[gratuitous]

1. At least he went to Thailand one last time before his arrest

Isn't that nice for Mr. Foster? Then he got to walk around free for another three months before entering his guilty plea. Now he walks around free for a while longer while the court decides how much of that maximum 10 years Mr. Foster will serve.

[ShockediSay]

2. Well what else are Bushy tax cuts for? n/t

[udbcrzy2]

3. He probably will not serve the whole sentence given

They let them out early on parole. Restitution would also be important.

[BR_Parkway]

4. silly man, if you don't want to go to jail, you have to be the bank and steal

other people's money.

People who steal FROM the bank go to jail

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Nailed it.

It is totally disgusting fact.

[Supersedeas]

9. happens in every deficiency judgment

[Mortos]

6. So he stole 22.9 million and has to pay back 16 million?

Pretty good deal. He will probably serve less than 5 years in prison which means he will profit over 1.25 million per year served. I would take that deal. Oh, and his mom, a bank teller, was able to secure bail of $800,000 by putting her house up as collateral. How many bank tellers have $800,000 homes? You think mom may have profited from son's thievery?

I have a plan for federal sentencing. Since a guy that robs a bank with a gun would face 25 years for stealing a few thousand, let's make a federal mandatory sentence guideline that executives who steal have to serve one year for each million. That sounds fair to me.

[sarcasmo]

7. Citigroup Inc, vice president which means he had healthy bonus money.

That is probably where the 6.9 million difference comes from.

[Mortos]

8. He embezzled 22.9 million, that means he stole it

I don't know how much he made, but that is how much he stole.

[Nihil]

10. Yep, crime pays just fine & dandy when you start off rich ... (n/t)

:grr: