Citibank Employee Transfers $166,000 To Himself After Gaining Unauthorized Access to 79-Year-Old Dementia Patient’s Account: Manhattan District Attor

A former personal banker at Citibank has admitted to stealing a huge pile of cash from an elderly customer.

According to the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, 35-year-old Juan Velez stole tens of thousands of dollars from a 79-year-old customer over a span of 12 months.

“According to court documents, statements made on the record in court and as admitted in the defendant’s guilty plea, Velez abused his position as a personal banker at a Citibank location on the Lower East Side [of Manhattan] to gain unauthorized access to the account of a 79-year-old man suffering from dementia and steal approximately $166,000 between April 2022 and April 2023.”

Velez created fake electronic payment accounts in the septuagenarian’s name and used them to wire himself money, according to the Manhattan DA.

The former Citibank personal banker bought himself a Harley-Davidson motorbike using the stolen funds. Velez also used the septuagenarian’s account to pay off his some of his credit cards.

“The customer frequently visited the branch, often several times per week, and demonstrated extreme confusion about the state of his finances.

During the time of the theft, Velez told his supervisor several times that he spent so much time helping the elderly customer because the customer had memory problems and did not understand the state of his finances.”

Velez faces a six-month jail sentence and five years of probation. The sentence is scheduled to be handed out in December. The former Citibank personal banker will also have to forfeit the Harley-Davidson motorbike acquired using the stolen funds.

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