The Federal Reserve Board has barred six former bank employees from the banking industry for bilking pandemic relief funds.
The Fed handed down permanent bans to former Merrill Lynch employees Autumn Jordan and Manuel F. Pinazo, as well as former Regions Bank employees Dedryck O. Carson, Wendy Rodriguez Legon, Michael T. Lemley and Tracy L. Mallory for pocketing loans from the Small Business Administration.
The enforcement actions come as the Fed and other government agencies seek to
As of last month, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which includes the Fed, had made 1,000 criminal charges and opened 200 civil cases, according to a White House fact sheet, spanning 1,800 individuals and billions of dollars in suspected fraud.
The individuals in the Fed’s latest round of enforcement actions submitted fraudulent applications to the SBA for hardship loans and grants ranging from $9,000 to more than $20,000. Instead of using the funds to offset pandemic-related losses, the bank employees kept them for personal use, according to the Fed.
Mallory, a former bank manager for a Regions branch in Georgia, secured the largest sum by supplying false information to the SBA. According to the Fed, she obtained a $11,600 economic injury disaster loan as well as a $10,000 grant and kept them for personal use.
Pinazo, a former client associate of Merrill Lynch in Miami, took home the next-highest sum after securing a $20,000 SBA loan, according to the Fed.
Rodriguez Legon, a former financial relationship specialist for Regions in Miami, netted $15,800 from a hardship loan; Lemler, the then-manager of a Texas branch of Regions, obtained a $12,500 loan; Carson, a former financial relationship specialist for Regions in Birmingham, Alabama (where Regions is based), obtained a $10,000 grant; and Jordan, a client service representative for Merrill Lynch at the time, secured a $9,000 advance from the SBA.
All six agreed not to participate in banking activity again or they would face criminal or civil penalties.
