Employees At Major US Bank Accused of Draining Customers’ Accounts, Triggering $363,452 in Losses

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) says employees at a major US bank have been caught draining hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers’ accounts.

The thefts allegedly happened at Truist Bank over the course of about five years in multiple separate incidents.

The FDIC says Truist insider Mountee Brown caused losses of more than a quarter of a million dollars over two months.

“Respondent [Mountee Brown], while serving as a Financial Service Specialist at Truist Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina (Bank), on at least 26 occasions between October and November 2022, authorized the withdrawal of funds from customer accounts to individuals who were not authorized to receive those funds.

As a result of this unauthorized activity, the Bank suffered a loss of $255,000 and Respondent received financial gain of at least approximately $30,200.”

The FDIC is now banning Brown, who pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in a U.S. District Court, from the US banking industry.

Next up is Elias Israel Roblero Rangel, a former Truist Bank personal banker. In a separate incident about five years ago, the FDIC says Rangel accessed the accounts of five clients and ordered debit and credit cards for the quintet without authorization and had them mailed to himself.

Using the credit and debit cards linked to the five customers, Rangel then made unauthorized ATM withdrawals from the accounts of three customers and shopped using the cards linked to two customers’ accounts.

The FDIC, which says Rangel caused $44,187 in losses to Truist Bank, is banning him from the banking industry. Rangel admitted the theft accusations and is facing a civil money penalty of $35,000 from the FDIC.

The former Truist Bank teller, Branden J. Ayala, is also facing an enforcement action from the FDIC.

Ayala allegedly processed at least 18 unauthorized withdrawals from customer accounts between August and October of 2020. The FDIC also says he cashed unauthorized checks and handed the proceeds to impersonators. Ayala caused at least $39,950 in losses to the bank, per the FDIC. The FDIC is banning Ayala, who neither admitted nor denied the allegations, from the banking industry and ordering him to pay a civil money penalty of $7,000.

Lastly, the FDIC is taking action against former Truist Bank employee Derrick Alan Smith. According to the agency, Smith stole $24,315 from four elderly customers of Truist Bank by cashing 16 forged counter checks while working at the lender.

The FDIC is consequently banning Smith, who pleaded guilty to forgery in October of 2021 after getting arrested, from working in the banking industry. The agency is also fining him $35,000 and ordering him to restitute Truist Bank for $24,315.

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