Bank manager sentenced for using position to steal over $200,000 directly from customer

A former bank branch manager has been sentenced to prison after using his position to steal over $200,000 directly from the account of one of his customers, officials said.

James Gomes, 43, of New York, "used his position as a branch manager of an international financial institution to improperly access a customer's accounts and to steal a total of approximately $208,938.68," according to a statement released on Wednesday from the Department of Justice.

Gomes, without authorization, linked his personal phone number to the customer's accounts and enrolled the customer's accounts in the bank's online banking services, DOJ officials said.

Gomes subsequently fraudulently transferred the customer's funds in March and April 2020 to his personal bank and investment accounts at other financial institutions.

"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," the DOJ said. "Gomes continued the scheme even after the customer's death on April 5, 2020."

Gomes was sentenced on Tuesday to 13 months in prison, three years of supervised release and he was ordered to pay $208,938.68 in "both restitution and forfeiture of criminal proceeds for misusing his position to steal approximately $208,938.68 from a customer's accounts," the DOJ said.

Trial attorneys from the Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Pesce for the District of New Jersey prosecuted the case.

"MLARS' Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system," the DOJ said. "Since its creation in 2010, the Bank Integrity Unit has prosecuted financial institutions for violations of the BSA, money laundering, sanctions, and other laws, imposing total penalties of over $25 billion."