Bank Manager Steals $208,939 From Customer, Drains Accounts Before and After Victim’s Demise: US Department of Justice

A former bank manager has admitted to stealing from a customer’s accounts in a scheme that lasted even after the victim’s death.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey says 43-year-old James Gomes has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

The DOJ says Gomes, who worked as a branch manager for an unnamed international bank, concocted a scheme that siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from the victim.

From January to April of 2020, Gomes accessed the customer’s accounts more than a dozen times without authorization. He created an email address under the victim’s name and used it to enroll the customer’s accounts to the lender’s online banking services. Gomes also linked his personal mobile number to the customer’s online banking account.

With complete control of the victim’s online banking profile, Gomes transferred a total of $208,939 from the customer’s accounts to his personal accounts at other banks and his personal investment account.

In an effort to conceal his crime, Gomes also used the fake email account to send messages to his official work account to make it seem that the victim was instructing the bank to make the transfers. The former branch manager continued the scheme after the victim’s death on April 6th, 2020.

Gomes is now facing a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. His former employer took on losses to reimburse the victim’s estate.

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