Bank execs admit frauds totalling nearly $10 million

— -- A former California-based financial adviser for UBS is going to prison for stealing $5.4 million from clients, while a former executive at an Illinois bank has admitted to embezzling $4.4 million from her employer.

The Illinois woman faces up to 30 years in federal prison and $1 million in fines.

Fifty-six-year-old Mary Becker of Jerseyville pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to a charge of bank fraud.

Authorities say Becker worked at Jersey State Bank since 1976, holding positions ranging from assistant cashier to executive vice president. The indictment alleged that Becker inflated expenses and electronically transferred money from the bank's accounts to her own.

Federal prosecutors are trying to seize Becker's home, two condos near Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, a 38-foot powerboat and various other investments.

The bank's president says Becker resigned in February and no customer accounts were affected.

In the California case, a Livermore man accused of stealing $5.4 million from clients while working as a financial adviser for Swiss bank UBS has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say 39-year-old Steven Kobayashi was sentenced to 65 months in prison and three years of supervised release on Wednesday. He had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

Authorities say Kobayashi transferred funds from his clients' UBS accounts to his own bank accounts between 2006 and 2009 while working at the company's office in Walnut Creek. He was charged in 2011.

He allegedly used the money to pay gambling debts, hire prostitutes and buy luxury cars.

Prosecutors say the amount of restitution Kobayashi will be ordered to pay will be decided at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 19.