OCC publicizes 10 enforcements, 2 terminations of orders

A dozen enforcement-related actions – four formal agreements with banks, orders targeting six institution-affiliated parties, and two terminations of enforcement actions – were announced Thursday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

One of the formal agreements was with Slovenian S&LA of Franklin Conemaugh, Conemaugh, Pa., for unsafe and unsound practices, among them the institution’s Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) internal controls, audit, training, and violations of compliance monitoring and customer due diligence requirements.

The orders announced Thursday date from mid-May to early August. Actions against individuals included:

• A notice of charges for order of prohibition against Roberto A. Garcia, former personal banker at a North Miami, Fla., branch of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Columbus, Ohio. The notice alleges, among other things, that Garcia stole more than $12,000 in cash from the bank, engaged in account takeovers of bank customer accounts, and used customer accounts to pay personal expenses.
• An order of prohibition against James Gomes, former branch manager at a New York, N.Y., branch of TD Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Del., for accessing an elderly bank customer’s accounts without authorization and transferring more than $200,000 from the customer’s accounts to his own accounts.
• An order of prohibition against Priscilla Jones-Cotton, former branch manager at a Fort Myers, Fla., branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Del., for stealing, embezzling, or otherwise misappropriating approximately $32,000 from the bank.
• An order of prohibition against Deidre Katschke, former universal vault specialist at BOKF, N.A., Tulsa, Okla., for misappropriating approximately $42,500 in cash from the bank.
• A notice of charges for order of prohibition against Lexus Inez Lewis, former fraud operations specialist, at a Jacksonville, Fla., branch of Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, S.D. The notice alleges, among other things, that Lewis made false representations in her employment application and became employed at the bank in violation of federal law; caused fraudulent transactions totaling at least $389,000 to incur on bank customers’ credit card accounts; and kept bank equipment without authorization.
• An order of prohibition against Maria Salazar, former teller at a Louisville, Ky., branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Del., for conducting unauthorized debit card transactions using bank customer accounts that totaled approximately $10,200.

OCC Announces Enforcement Actions for August 2024