David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Kevin W. Caffrey, 47, of Wolcott, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in his ex-wife’s scheme to defraud Webster Bank of more than $6.2 million.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately May 2000 and May 2006, Caffrey was married to Susan Curtis, who worked in the Property Services Division of Webster Bank. The Property Services Division was responsible for, among other things, the acquisition and leasing of properties for Webster Bank’s Retail Banking business. In 2002, Curtis and Caffrey formed New House LLC and registered the limited liability company with ...

A former bank employee pleaded guilty today to a scheme with another employee that defrauded Regions Bank out of $32,413.

Crystal Thomas, a former Regions Bank employee, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud before Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn at a hearing in Birmingham. Thomas will be sentenced in about 15 weeks, the judge said.

"She has accepted responsibility ...

Earlier today, a federal jury found a former Twin Cities bank officer and a bank customer guilty of fraud. Their crimes were related to the customer’s multi-million-dollar check-kiting scheme and a loan scheme orchestrated in an effort to conceal the check-kiting from the bank’s board.

Following a 12-day trial, the jury convicted John Anthony Markert, age 58, of Mendota Heights, the former president of Pinehurst Bank in St. Paul, with five counts of misapplication of bank funds. George Leslie Wintz, Jr., age 72, an area businessman and the bank customer, was convicted on two counts of bank fraud and one count of theft from an employee benefit plan. Gregory Paul Pederson, age 44, of Roseville, the bank’s former chief credit officer and senior vice president, was acquitted on all counts.

Following today’s sentencing...

Sometimes, even smart guys get taken.

That's what the Edina law firm of Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz (MGM) says happened after it received an e-mail from someone claiming to be a 40-year-old Korean woman who'd been hurt in Minnesota, and who needed help securing a $400,000 legal settlement.

Unbeknownst to Milavetz, the government had begun a secret investigation a year earlier of Nigerian collection scams that target U.S. lawyers in a strikingly similar pattern.

That investigation led to a federal indictment in Harrisburg, Pa., of a Nigerian man and a Canadian resident. Much of the case is under seal, but the government alleges that they were part of a far-flung international conspiracy that has cost 80 victims -- lawyers and law firms -- at least $32 million, and that failed in attempts to extract more than ...

Pamela Kay Cobb, 30, appeared yesterday in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas before U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey L. Cureton and pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Cobb, who is also known as Pamela Crabb and Pamela Engles, faces a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and restitution. She will remain on bond pending sentencing before U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means on September 24, 2012.

According to documents filed in the case, Cobb was hired by Bank of America (BOA) in 1996 and worked at the BOA branch in River Oaks, Texas. She was promoted from personal banker to assistant branch manager and then to branch manager. Because of her positions at the bank, she had full access to customers’ bank accounts.

A 43-year-old Riverside bookkeeper is behind bars in connection with a $1.6 million embezzlement at the Corona tile company for which she worked, according to jail records and Corona police.

Bette Lenette Dahl was arrested at 2 p.m. March 22 along the 9000 block of Chris Court in Riverside and booked for investigation of a criminal transaction, committing a felony for the purpose of fraud, possession of fraudulent checks, grand theft and embezzlement, jail records show.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp's former chief financial officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges he helped mislead investors and cover up shortfalls that led to the collapse of one of the largest mortgage companies during the recent U.S. financial crisis.

Delton de Armas, 41 of Carrollton, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and one count of making false statements, charges that each carry a maximum five-year prison term.

Mary Ayers-Zander, 47, a former tax examiner for the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR), was sentenced today to a 30-month prison term on a federal charge of wire fraud stemming from a scheme involving more than $400,000 in fraudulent refunds.

The sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General for the District of Columbia; and Natwar M. Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia.

Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former employee of Jefferson Bank in Jefferson City, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to embezzling more than $540,000 from the bank and another employer and to tax fraud.

Kelley Lee Steiner, 52, of Jefferson City, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to the charges contained in a federal information.

A former Raleigh banker who has been missing for three years was indicted last week on charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of more than $75 million.

William Wise, 62, was charged with 12 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count each of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in California.