One Long Islander is about to have a very unpleasant meeting with the Secret Service. Because of a bank mixup, $100k in counterfeit cash was recently discovered at a Chase in Huntington. And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for an old man's innocent error! more ›

A Chinatown bank teller accused of stealing $243,000 from his Chase branch and going on an Atlantic City casino binge was arraigned in court yesterday. Sephoen Tsang, 22, pleaded not guilty to five counts of grand larceny and falsifying business records. Tsang, who was arrested playing the baccarat tables in Atlantic City, allegedly left a note for his former supervisor apologizing for the theft: “Sorry, Betty. Take care.” more ›

Remember how Bank of America said that they were going to charge their customers $5/month for using their debit cards? And everyone hated the huge company even more? Well, now other banks are deciding to learn from BoA's mistake and deciding against charging customers debit card usage fees. more ›

The police and the FBI are on the lookout for 54-year-old Sam Chatman, a man who is now connected with four bank robberies. Yesterday Chapman entered a Chase bank on Fifth Avenue a little before noon, brandished a gun and handed a note to the unlucky teller demanding cash and promising to "shoot anybody." more ›

Who knew that a Chase branch would have so much cash: According to the Post, two men dressed as painters "barged into a Chase bank as it was opening up early yesterday -- and robbed the joint of $850,000 in cash... That sum is the most netted in any city heist this year, sources said." more ›

Federal prosecutors have charged four men with stealing $1.5 million from various bank accounts after installing recording technology and other devices at ATMs in Midtown, Chelsea and across from the United Nations as well as in Miami and Chicago. Mihail Draghici, Ionel Dedulescu, Didi Theodor Ciulei and Laurentiu Mugurel Manta were hit with multiple charges, including bank fraud; the Dow Jones News Service reports, "The former two were arrested in Miami December as they tried to board an international flight... The latter two were arrested last month in Chicago." more ›

When man came running out of CVS with "a basket overflowing with L'Oreal and Nexxus bottles" yesterday morning and then threatened a cabdriver with a gun, it wasn't the police who stopped his reign of terror—it was a pair of Richmond University Medical Center EMTs. more ›

The 70-year-old bank robber who was shot in the leg by police while trying to rob a Chase bank the day after he was released from prison is going back to jail. John Daniel Stolarz, aka Johnny Shades, pleaded guilty to the top count of bank robbery for the botched robbery yesterday. He should have stuck to a criminal professional more suitable for an elderly man. more ›

We've heard plenty of stories about people using ATMs to skim money from unsuspecting customers, but it seems that banks have been taking note, and have decided to get in on the action: several banks are rolling out dastardly new charges that could increase ATM fees to $5! more ›

A Queens banker has been charged with perpetrating a simple but effective money laundering scheme, right under the noses of her bosses. Natanzia St. Rose was arrested last week for "possible money laundering and structuring of narcotics proceeds through financial institutions." And she was undone by some dank bud! more ›

Crain's is reporting on a software glitch that caused Chase's online banking system to crash first on September 13th and again today. The bank is assuring customers that their accounts are safe and is refunding any late fees which may have been acquired during the website's down time. An "Institutional Risk Analyst" suggests these outages might be symptomatic of a larger issue, "These systems are big and complex, but they should have redundancy to take the ‘A' system offline if need be for hours at least." Over 16.5 million people have been affected and people in Chicago are apparently freaking out. And Pat Kiernan isn't happy either and says the system is down today too. more ›

This morning Debrahlee Lorenzana risked her current job at Chase by appearing on two morning shows to talk about how she was fired from Citigroup because supervisors there can't stand having gorgeous women around. You've seen how she looks, now listen to her talk: more ›

She says she lost her Citigroup job because of her unbearable pulchritude, but it's her big mouth that could cost Debbie Lorenzana her current job at Chase. Lorenzana, who is taking legal action against Citigroup after supervisors allegedly terminated her because they can't tolerate pretty women, has been all over the media since the Village Voice featured her in a cover story last week. Today she's set to appear on Good Morning America and the Today show, but her lawyer claims her bosses at Chase are trying to silence her. more ›

Last year construction safety coordinator Bianca Wisniewski filed a $20 million lawsuit charging she was sexually harassed at a JPMorgan Chase construction site on Park Avenue. (Among the alleged abuses were elevator operator Steve Greco's comment to Wisniewski that "Everybody kisses engineer Steve. This is a man's world, not a place for women to work.") Sadly, Wisniewski died in a tragic fire in her flushing apartment several months later, just one day before she was to testify against her former employer. (The FDNY decided the fire was accidentally caused by a candle falling on a sofa.) more ›

The LI dentist who kept an $800,000 private Chase account from her husband won't get the opportunity to sue the bank for revealing her secret stash. Supreme Court Justice James Golia rejected Nazita Aminpour's lawsuit, which argued that her bank violated her right to privacy under federal banking law, and placed her under duress at home, forcing her to dole out $155,000 to keep her husband happy and save their marriage. The judge wrote in his decision that "duress requires the threat of an unlawful act to compel someone to do something she doesn't want to do," and dismissed the case. Somebody involved in this story could probably benefit by learning a bit more about recognizing scams and sketchy spouses. more ›

Ah, remember the Chase bank "fraud broad," who was busted back in July for siphoning over $100K from a millionaire's private account, then blowing it on shopping, partying, and rent? We kind of did forget, then the photo brought us right back. Yesterday, 26-year-old Robin Katz pleaded guilty to grand larceny committed during her time as a financial adviser at JPMorgan Chase. So will they throw the book at the buxom embezzler? more ›

As many of our astute commenters suspected, it was a drug deal gone bad that sparked Wednesday night's wild car chase and fatal shooting in Washington Heights. It was originally reported that a man had flagged down a patrol car screaming that he was robbed and pointing to a silver Cadillac a few car lengths ahead, near West 170th street. And while police say it's true that the man and his buddy were robbed—of somewhere between $500 and $1,200 cash—it's now confirmed that the robbery was a pot deal gone bad. more ›

The five French tourists who became unwilling passengers in a high-speed chase on Tuesday when police tried to bust an unlicensed livery van at JFK are getting a great taste of American instant-celebrity. Yesterday two of the tourists attended a big press conference to publicly thank the officers involved in the incident, which began after undercover Port Authority cops spotted a hustler steering them into the unlicensed van—when one officer tried to grab the keys, the driver sped off with the newly-arrived French visitors trapped inside. more ›

Five French tourists got dragged on a crazy, high-speed chase after getting into an unlicensed livery van at JFK yesterday. The unwanted excitement started around 11 a.m. after Port Authority police spotted Ian McFarland, 57, hustling the newly-arrived French visitors from the Air France terminal to an unauthorized van. According to the Post, Officer Michael Bestany recognized McFarland as a "longtime steerer" of travelers to the illegal vans, and when Bestany reached into the vehicle to grab the keys, driver Khaalis Preacher floored it, knocking Bestany to the pavement, injuring his shoulder and knee. Captive tourist Gwen Dulugat, who injured her arm while trying to jump from the moving van, describes the high-speed chase that ensued: "It went very, very fast. We're going zoom, zoom, zoom. The police were fantastic. They were behind us all the time." Preacher led cops to East New York, where he finally crashed through the mechanical gate arm of a US Postal Service facility. The Post got great photos of the police, guns drawn, chasing down the two suspects and arresting them; the other tourists escaped with no injuries and an ultimate New York story. more ›

It was only after all this that the officer ended up passing his gun over to the janitor who had unknowingly lent his uniform to the suspect, 51-year-old Placido Contreras. As the cop wrestled with a bloody McNair, he passed his gun to Contreras and told him, "Keep your eyes on him and shoot him if you have to." The janitor told the Post that it was the first time he held a real gun. more ›

A Chase bank employee is being blamed for dropping the dime about a Long Island dentist's $800,000 individual account to her husband. The NY Post reports that while Nazita Aminpour and David Shamash "have a joint account at a Chase branch in Kew Gardens, Queens," Aminpour also had the secret account. Well, secret until a bank employee cold-called Shamash, "telling him he should take his small fortune out of the low-interest account and make other investments with Chase." Aminipour's suit says that once Shamash heard about the money, he "began harassing [Aminpour], asking for money from the funds that he can invest in the stock market and to cover a margin call he had on his stock account." The suit adds that Shamash "alienat[ed]" Aminipour until she gave him $155,000 "to save her marriage and restore order in the marital home." Aminipour says Chase violated non-disclosure laws and wants the bank to pay her the $155K plus legal fees. more ›

Stories of thieves setting up devices to "skim" bank customer data from ATM machines have been around for a while, which is all the more reason to be alert. A Gizmodo reader found himself face-to-face with one skimming set up at his Chase branch in the East Village. more ›

The FBI is investigating numerous threatening letters "many...containing an indentified powder" sent to Chase bank branches around the country. The locations include, per the AP, "in or near Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Newark, N.J., New York City, Oklahoma City and Washington." The letters, which started to arrive on Monday, are being tested (so far, field tests have found the powder to be harmless). One letter implied the letter's opener would die, but no Chase employees have been injured. An FBI spokesperson said, "Even sending a hoax letter is a serious crime." more ›

Last night, a stolen Mercedes-Benz, chased by the car's owner and police from a number of towns, barreled into a Honda Accord in New Milford, NJ. The Bergen Record reports that the Accord was ripped in half, killing a 10-year-old girl and critically injuring a 14-year-old boy (the car was driven by the 10-year-old's mother). The impact of the crash sent debris hundreds of feet. The Mercedes had apparently been left running when the owner went inside his house for another car's keys; when he saw his car was stolen, he called the police and tried to pursue Harold Saenz, 22, himself. A Bergen County prosecutor says police were not chasing the stolen car--just following. Saenz suffered minor injuries and taken into police custody; he was charged with felony murder and aggravated manslaughter. more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is once again considering a number of buildings and areas for potential landmarking or historic district designation, such as the Webster Hall, Fisk Terrace-Midwood Park in Broolyn, and One Chase Manhattan Plaza. You can see the list here - PDF. more ›

Complaining about the proliferation of bank branches in New York City has almost become cliche, but City Planning officials are taking steps to enact zoning restrictions along 125th St. in Manhattan that would limit the number of bank branches on the main drag of Harlem. The idea is that bank branches can have a deadening effect on pedestrian use of a an area because they take up space that could be used for arts, entertainment, or retail purposes. more ›