Ex-Citigroup VP Admits To Embezzling $22.9 Million

Gary Foster leaving federal court earlier this summer (AP).

Earlier this summer federal prosecutors charged ex-Citigroup VP Gary Foster of embezzling millions from the bank into personal accounts and yesterday he plead guilty to one count of bank fraud. The legally blind banker now faces a maximum of ten years in the slammer for making off with $22.9 million between September 2003 and June 2011.

“I executed a scheme to defraud Citigroup,” Foster told U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano yesterday. “I directed funds to be wired into my personal account at JPMorgan.” As part of his plea deal Foster has agreed to forfeit about $16 million in properties. That included some fancy digs and even fancier cars—cars which he couldn't even legally drive!

Apparently Foster pocketed all that that dough by transferring funds and assigning them fraudulent contract numbers so nothing would seem out of order. And for years and years it worked. Citibank didn't even notice the problems until it turned up in an internal audit earlier this year, at which point Foster was already out the door. Foster, a divorced father of two who was arrested in June returning from a vacation to Bangkok, is currently out on bail as he awaits his sentencing. How'd he pay for his bail? His mother, who works a teller for Bank of America, secured his $800,000 bond with her house in Teaneck, New Jersey.

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By Garth Johnston in News on September 7, 2011 1:41 PM

Comments [rss]

Nos Feratu

$23 million stolen and it took years before anyone noticed. Just makes you wonder about the kind of sloppy management, waste and fraud that takes place at these mega banks. Despite this, they've got the average American by the balls. Doesn't say much about the average American, does it?

know2well

"The legally blind banker"..... WOW he robbed them BLIND!

randomtransplant

I wonder how many people with jobs like his mother's wouldn't have had to be laid off if Citi kept track of its money?

I wonder if 28 families with as much equity in their homes as his mom could have kept their homes from being foreclosed if he didn't steal?

Probably not. Because they're thieves even without the wire transfers.

ogie

22 million stolen probably will get a year in country club jail and 6 years probation. steal 100$ at gunpoint 15years in maximum security. now thats justice i can get behind.

Ross Bennett Brown

I love that even though he worked for Citi, he stored the stolen money in his personal account at JP Morgan. Didn't even have the decency or show the courtesy to use Citi as his bank!