A former banker has been charged for engaging in a nearly $2 million check kiting fraud scheme at an East St. Louis, Ill., bank, the inspector general for the federal bank deposit insurance agency said Thursday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said former Bank of O’Fallon Executive Vice President Andrew P. Blassie, 69, of St. Louis, was charged Wednesday with defrauding the bank out of $1,972,887.67 in a check kite scheme from September 2023 through September 2024 while working at the bank.
The OIG said Blassie is facing one count of bank fraud and one count of interstate transportation of security or funds obtained by fraud. More specifically, the agency accuses Blassie of falsely inflating the balance of his personal checking account at the bank by depositing checks he knew to be backed by non-sufficient funds.
The OIG said he allegedly deposited checks with non-sufficient funds from four personal accounts at three other banks and one credit union into the Bank of O’Fallon account.
Further, the agency said, it alleges Blassie paid nearly $2.7 million for personal expenses from the falsely inflated account from funds belonging to the bank. He is also accused of using his former position as executive vice president to conceal the fraud from the bank by “scrubbing” his name and account number from the suspected kiting reports.
Meanwhile, the OIG also reported that a Maryland bank teller April 3 pleaded guilty to theft of more than a quarter million dollars from customers. The agency said Mountee Brown, 27, of Clinton, Md., pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to steal funds from bank customers.
Brown allegedly made the thefts while working for a bank in Upper Marlboro, Md. The OIG did not identify the bank (referring to it as Bank A).
The OIG said Brown had access to the bank accounts of five victims, four of whom were greater than age 80. Between October and November 2022, OIG alleged Brown and his co-conspirators devised a scheme to use his position as a bank teller to make at least 26 unauthorized cash withdrawals involving the victims’ accounts, totaling $255,000.
Former Bank of O’Fallon executive indicted for $2 million fraud scheme
Maryland Bank Teller Pleads Guilty to Stealing More Than $250,000 From Clients
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