Ex-bank manager sentenced to 13 months for stealing $200K from customer’s account

A former New York bank manager James Gomes, has been sentenced to 13 months in prison for stealing over $200,000 from a customer’s account. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Gomes, 43, used his position at an international bank to steal $208,938.68 from a customer’s account between January and April 2020, according to a USA Today report. He linked his phone number to the account, registered it for online services, and transferred the funds to his personal accounts.
Prosecutors said that Gomes continued his scheme even after the customer’s death on April 5, 2020. He created a fake email address to make it appear as if the customer was still communicating with him.
“To cover up his scheme, Gomes created a fraudulent email address containing the customer’s name, which he used to engage in fictitious conversations with his own official bank email address to make it appear that the customer was communicating with him,” officials said, as quoted by USA Today.
In addition to his prison sentence, Gomes will serve three years of supervised release and must repay the stolen funds.