The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has banned four former bankers from future work in the industry, the agency disclosed Thursday.
Tanya Jazmin Cortez, a teller and concierge at Citi branches in Los Angeles County, California, provided at least one third party with confidential customer information in exchange for cash between November 2020 and May 2022, according to an OCC order.
The information led the third party and potentially others to engage in check fraud, resulting in a roughly $348,487 loss to the bank and at least $4,560 in financial gain for Cortez, the OCC said.
Lexus Inez Lewis, a former fraud operations specialist at a Citi branch in Jacksonville, Florida, was initially employed at the bank’s collections department under her name from May 18, 2020, until April 20, 2021, when she was terminated for job abandonment.
In September, Lewis was hired as a fraud specialist at the bank under her sister’s name and worked in her role from Sept. 26, 2022, to March 24, 2023, violating the law by making false statements in her employment application, the OCC said. Prior criminal convictions required her to receive written consent from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. She did not, the OCC found.
From December 2022 to March 2023, Lewis, working as a fraud specialist under her sister’s name, performed “super-suspend” actions on 61 customer credit card accounts. These actions were typically followed by unauthorized purchases on the affected accounts, resulting in 672 fraudulent transactions. Lewis’ actions amounted to a total loss of roughly $389,127 for Citi. She also kept bank equipment without authorization, the OCC said.
Leronne D. Kornegay, while working as an associate banker at a JPMorgan Chase branch in New York City, engaged in a scheme with another bank staffer to steal bank funds from at least January 2020 to June 2021, the OCC said. Kornegay falsely reported the receipt of counterfeit bills in the lender’s general ledger to hide his misconduct, leading to a loss of at least $201,785 for JPMorgan, according to the order.
Alexis LeaAnne Adcock, while serving as a client relationship consultant at a Clarksville, Tennessee, branch of U.S. Bank, misappropriated roughly $10,060 in March from the ATM over which she had sole control at the bank, according to the federal regulator.
The bankers neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoings but agreed to follow the consent orders, the OCC said.
