Three removal and prohibition orders – and five orders permitting five individuals to work at financial institutions again – were made public by the federal insurer of bank deposits in November, the agency said.
The actions were among the 12 orders and one notice made public for the month by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).
In a release, the agency said that it had prohibited Vincent J. Bautista of First International Bank and Trust in Watford City, N.D.; and Kandice Nicole Stone of South State Bank in Columbia, S.C.
In its order, FDIC said it determined that Bautista, while a senior trust officer of the bank, billed trust clients and paid himself for services that the clients did not authorize him to perform. “He also solicited and obtained an unsecured loan from a trust beneficiary to an uncreditworthy limited liability company he controlled, without adequately disclosing the risks associated with the loan,” the order noted.
Stone, the FDIC said, as a teller in a branch of the bank during May 2014, processed three cash withdrawals totaling $8,059 from the account of a deceased bank customer. “Respondent knowingly filled out and processed the withdrawal slips that included purported signatures from an individual she knew to be deceased and retained the funds for her own benefit,” the agency said.
Both Batista and Stone signed consent agreements with the agency prohibiting them from participating in “any manner in the conduct of the affairs of any financial institution or agency” without prior written approval of the FDIC or appropriate federal financial regulatory agency.
In other actions, the agency filed an “intention to prohibit from further participation” against a former North Carolina banker who pleaded guilty to bank fraud, and sentenced to 21 months in prison, earlier this year (along with an order to pay restitution of nearly $346,000).
According to the FDIC’s notice, Kelly Marie Krebs of Branch Banking and Trust Company in Winston-Salem, N.C., is under notice of prohibition after pleading guilty in March to the fraud. According to the FDIC, in her plea agreement, Krebs “knowingly and willfully” executed and attempted to execute a scheme to defraud the bank by writing and forging the signature of elderly bank customers on counter checks made out to cash and then stole the cash for her own use. The total amount was approximately $345,925. Krebs also, according to FDIC, made deposits into her personal accounts, contemporaneously with at least one of the fraud schemes, of nearly $149,000.
The agency also said that last month it modified a previous prohibition order against Brian D. Barber, formerly of Farmers State Bank in Yale, Iowa, to allow Barber to perform real estate appraisals for any insured depository institution. “After fully considering all the facts and information relating to the request, the FDIC finds that the Applicant has demonstrated his fitness to perform real estate appraisals for any insured depository institution, showed that his limited participation would not pose a risk to any insured depository institution, and established that his limited participation would not erode public confidence in any insured depository institution,” the FDIC said.
Other actions for November reported by the FDIC included:
- Five orders permitting former bank employees or directors to work at financial institutions again. Mark Girard Campbell, Craig L. Brasky, David Torres, Cherylann P. Clarke Jiggetts, and Anessa L. Perry were all granted approvals for their “Section 19 applications.” The agency said that it found their “participation directly or indirectly in the conduct of the affairs of any insured depository institution, in any position, would not pose a threat to the safety or soundness of any insured depository institution or the interests of depositors, nor would such participation threaten to impair public confidence in any insured depository institution.”
- Four terminations of actions (all cease and desist orders) against: State Central Bank of Keokuk, Iowa; Bison State Bank of Bison, Kansas; The Farmers Bank (now known as Persons Banking Company) in Forsyth, Ga.; and The Citizens State Bank in Okemah, Okla.