How can bank not spot $19M missing?

Jun 25 2011

How can bank not spot $19M missing?

The Citi was apparently asleep while a former bank executive was embezzling more than $19 million from Citigroup coffers to fund his lavish lifestyle, according to prosecutors.

Gary Foster, 35, was arrested at Kennedy Airport Monday by FBI agents after returning from a vacation in Bangkok.

“This defendant allegedly used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

Foster was a vice president in Citigroup’s internal treasury finance department in Long Island City and resigned in January.

A complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court states that from May 2009 to last December, Foster wired $19.2 million from various Citigroup accounts into his own personal bank account at Chase.

Foster owned a $1 million condo in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., with spectacular views of the Hudson River.

He poured $500,000 into a high-tech bathroom where the mirrors convert into video screens with the flick of a switch.

Foster also owned half a dozen other properties, including an apartment in midtown Manhattan. His fleet of autos included a Maserati, a Ferrari and a BMW.

Brooklyn Magistrate Ramon Reyes released the accused crook on $800,000 bail secured by his parents’ modest home in Teaneck, N.J. His mother works as a bank teller. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on fraud charges.

“A Citigroup investigator has told me that Foster’s wire transfers to his personal Chase account went unnoticed until a recent internal audit of Citigroup’s treasury department,” FBI agent Thomas D’Amico stated in the complaint.

Defense lawyer Isabelle Kirshner said Foster returned to the U.S. after learning he was the subject of a federal arrest warrant. “Obviously, these are serious charges that require our serious attention, and we will undertake to investigate them fully,” she said.

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