Former TD Bank employee pleads guilty to check-fraud scheme

April 11, 2025 2:14 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: A former TD Bank employee pleads guilty to a felony in connection with a check-fraud scheme; EWA provider DailyPay files a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James; First Citizens BancShares ends the shared-loss agreement it made with the FDIC after acquiring Silicon Valley Bank; and more.

Bloomberg

Former TD Bank employee pleads guilty in check-fraud case

A former worker in TD Bank's anti-money-laundering department has pleaded guilty to a felony in connection with a check-fraud scheme.

Daria Sewell, who faced a single count related to the possession of customers' personally identifiable information, pleaded guilty to the Class E felony charge on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's office. She will be sentenced on June 12 to five years of probation, the D.A.'s spokesperson said.

"This defendant brazenly exploited her position for her own personal profit," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a written statement. "We take all fraud in the banking and financial services industry extremely seriously, no matter what form it takes."

The U.S. unit of Toronto-based TD Bank Group pleaded guilty last year to money-laundering conspiracy, but the case against Sewell grew out of a probe focused on check fraud, authorities said last year. —Kevin Wack

DailyPay files suit against New York Attorney General

Earned wage access provider DailyPay filed a lawsuit for declaratory relief against New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday to prevent the AG from blocking EWA providers in the state.

The suit comes in response to the AG's efforts to shut down on-demand pay under state usury laws, according to DailyPay.

"It's disappointing that the Attorney General's office decided to preempt the bill pending in the state legislature and attempt to take this valuable service away from NY residents," said Jared DeMatteis, DailyPay's chief legal and strategy officer, in a statement.

"Many other states have adopted thoughtful legislation with consumer safeguards, and we support this approach, especially in our home state," he said. "The actions taken by the Attorney General's office suggest that it prefers consumers to rely on loan sharks or pay higher overdraft and late fees over on-demand pay, a proven safer and cheaper financial alternative." —Joey Pizzolato

First Citizens signals confidence in SVB portfolio

First Citizens BancShares terminated the shared-loss agreement it made with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. when the company acquired the remnants of the failed Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. The Raleigh, North Carolina, bank's move signals that it doesn't think losses on the SVB portfolio will exceed the $5 billion threshold laid out in the agreement.

Although growth in the so-called innovation economy — which includes startup funding that SVB was known for — has been tepid, First Citizens has said it expects the business to bounce back in the long run.

"We came very quickly to the conclusion that the failure of SVB was not caused by its client base," said Chairman and CEO Frank Holding Jr. in an interview with American Banker last year. "It was much more a set of internal decisions that created its problems. And we thought that its core business strategy was very sound." —Catherine Leffert

Charlesbridge promotes Brennan to CFO

Charlesbridge MHC, the holding company of Dedham Savings and South Shore Bank, has promoted Daniel Brennan to be its new chief financial officer.

Brennan, who starts his new job on May 1, has served as CFO for South Shore Bank since 2017, the Dedham, Massachusetts, company said in a press release Tuesday.

Brennan succeeds Mark Ingalls, who is retiring after 14 years in the job and as COO of Dedham Savings. —Mary de Wet

US Bank names new head of Elan Financial Services credit card team

U.S. Bank has appointed Peter Klukken as the head of the Elan Financial Services credit card team, where he will be responsible for driving profitable growth, deepening relationships with financial institution partners and enhancing customer experiences.

Elan Financial Services is a division of the Minneapolis-based bank that provides agent banking credit cards to more than 1,200 financial institutions. It also offers mortgage solutions and merchant processing services.

The new appointment marks Klukken's second stint at U.S. Bank, where he held multiple senior leadership roles across the company's payment services business. Most recently, he served as general manager for Fiserv's Money Network business. —Joey Pizzolato

Dime hires deposit-focused group to execute growth

This week, Long Island, New York-based Dime Community Bancshares announced the hiring of a deposit-focused group to cover the Queens market. The group, previously employed with the former Signature Bank and its successor, Flagstar Bank, will be led by George Taitt as director and Amy Grandy as associate director.

"We are excited to announce the addition of another talented deposit-focused Group. George and Amy are highly respected bankers with a long and successful track record," Stuart H. Lubow, president and chief executive officer of the bank, said in a Thursday press release.

Dime Community Bancshares is the holding company for Dime Community Bank, a New York state-chartered trust company with over $14 billion in assets and the No. 1 deposit market share among community banks on Greater Long Island. —Editorial Staff

Wells Fargo taps Goldman Sachs’ DiOrio to lead industrials M&A

Wells Fargo has hired Chris DiOrio from Goldman Sachs to lead its industrials M&A group, the latest in a string of hires aimed at bolstering its investment banking team, according to people familiar with the matter.

DiOrio will join Wells Fargo as managing director based in New York, reporting to Jeff Hogan, head of global M&A, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private. He previously spent 10 years at the Wall Street rival, where he most recently held a managing director role in the industrials M&A group. Prior to that, he worked at Barclays, where he was a managing director and head of consumer and retail M&A.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo confirmed DiOrio's hire and declined to comment further. A representative for Goldman Sachs declined to comment. —David Carnevali, Bloomberg News