The U.S. Department of Justice says a former bank manager has admitted to stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars from customers to fund his own spending habits.
The DOJ says 53-year-old Eric Jason Schouest of Plaquemine, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and bank fraud.
Prosecutors say Schouest admitted to using his power as a manager at a Regions Bank Plank Road branch to illegally access customer accounts, open and close accounts and transfer funds to and from customer accounts to steal the money .
Once Schouest was in possession of the bank’s customers’ money, he paid out loans totaling $250,000 for his own home and car.
Says the DOJ,
“Beginning in or about 2020, and continuing through in or about April 2021, Schouest used his position of trust with Regions Bank to embezzle funds from customer accounts and deposit the funds into his personal bank accounts.
He also sent false and fraudulent emails and forged documents to other Regional Bank employees to conceal his scheme. Some of the traceable fraudulent funds were used to pay off loans for personal belongings such as a house and a car. Through his scheme, Schouest embezzled more than $250,000 from the bank accounts of customers in the region.”
In addition to a $1 million fine, the DOJ says each of Schouest’s embezzlement and bank fraud convictions carries penalties of up to 30 years in prison and a period of supervised release.
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