Ex-Citigroup Executive Gets 8 Years for Embezzlement
By Christie Smythe on June 29, 2012 Tweet Facebook LinkedIn Google Plus 0 Comments

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Former Citigroup Inc. (C) (C) Vice President Gary Foster was sentenced to 97 months in prison for embezzling almost $23 million from the bank, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.

Foster pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September, admitting that he transferred money from various Citigroup accounts to his own at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) (JPM) He concealed his activities by making false accounting entries, according to the government.

He used the money to buy real estate and luxury sports cars, including a Ferrari and a Maserati, prosecutors said. The government has seized or restrained property from Foster valued at a total of $14 million.

“I executed a scheme to defraud Citigroup,” Foster told U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano at his plea hearing last year in Brooklyn. “I directed funds to be wired into my personal account at JPMorgan.”

Foster, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was arrested last June at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after returning from Bangkok. Foster, who worked in the bank’s treasury finance department, transferred money from various Citigroup accounts.

Under nonbinding sentencing guidelines, Foster faced a maximum of about 10 years in prison. John Diat, a spokesman for New York-based Citigroup, declined to comment.

‘Stunning Amount’
As part of his plea deal, Foster agreed to forfeit about $16 million in properties, including residences in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey, as well as the Ferrari and Maserati.

“The defendant violated his employer’s trust and stole a stunning amount of money over an extended period of time to finance his personal lifestyle,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch in Brooklyn said last year.

During the sentencing today, Foster “expressed enormous contrition and remorse and was very clear about taking full responsibility for what happened,” his lawyer, Isabelle A. Kirshner, said in a phone interview.

Foster, who worked for Citigroup in the Long Island City section of Queens, New York, caused about $900,000 to be moved from its interest-expense account and about $14.4 million from its debt-adjustment account to the bank’s cash account, according to prosecutors.

Then, in eight transfers, his actions led to the money being wired from the cash account into his personal account, prosecutors said. He conducted the fraud from September 2003 to June 2011, according to the government.

Wire Transfers
Foster caused a fraudulent contract or deal number to be put in the reference line of the wire-transfer instructions to make it appear the transfers supported an existing contract, the prosecutors charged.

“I made entries in Citigroup’s records to conceal the fact that I took the funds,” he said at his plea hearing.

Citigroup’s treasury finance department funds loans and other business transactions within the bank and Foster supervised the department’s derivatives unit, according to his criminal complaint. The unit processed payments related to trades of derivatives, including swaps, according to court papers.

Foster joined Citigroup, which is ranked third by assets among U.S. banks, in 1999 and left voluntarily in January 2011, according to a person familiar with his employment.

Internal Audit
Originally from Jamaica, Foster started at Citigroup as a temporary employee and worked his way up to a vice president position, his lawyer Kirshner said.

“In many ways, this was tragic,” she said. “He had achieved a lot.”

An internal audit of the department detected the wire transfers to Foster’s personal account, prosecutors said.

“We are outraged by the actions of this former employee,” Shannon Bell, a spokeswoman for Citigroup, said in a June 2011 e-mail.

The case is U.S. v. Foster, 11-cr-00601, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

To contact the reporter on this story: Christie Smythe federal court in Brooklyn, New York, at [email protected].

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected].

Man cooks and eats another man for supper in Narok
The Kenyan DAILY POSTCounty News 03:08

Sunday, 01st July, 2012 – Police in Tetu, Narok County are holding a man who is alleged to have killed a man who was trespassing his employer’s land and ate him for dinner.

Residents said that the middle aged man had warned residents of trespassing and told them that he will one day kill someone. It was reported that he once tried cutting a 10 year old boy with his sharp panga on the stomach but his efforts were thwarted by passersby.

Neighbors who heard his screams rescued the boy. They told the media that although the man guarded the livestock and farm with his sharp machetes and knives they never thought that he would cause actual harm.

Peter Chepongos (deceased) is said to have left his brother at the market and headed home on Friday night. His family however became worried on Saturday morning as the father of five never arrived home.

Alarmed by his disappearance, Francis Tarkus told the media that they started a search for his brother and the search was turning fruitless until they reached the farm where the assailant was guarding his employer’s livestock.

Tarkus said that the guard acted strangely and instead of barring them from passing, he just stood a far distance as though he was hiding something, he then proceeded with the livestock to their shed before running away.

Curious residents went to see what was on the ground where the guard was standing only to find Chepongo’s cap in a pool of blood, they followed the trail of the blood which led them to his house.

They could smell the aroma of meat boiling but the guard was no where insight, the villagers decided to break the door and gained entry.

Inside the house was a pot of meat boiling, they also found parts of Chepongos body in paper bags hidden inside his chicken house, his clothes which were full of blood were also recovered.

The residents could however not find some of Chepongos body parts.

Kirengero police officers were alerted and they arrived at the scene, a man hunt for the man was conducted immediately and police caught up with him at his hideout. He confessed to the crime of killing Chepongos and eating him for dinner.

The guard will be arraigned in court on Monday.

Psalm 59 (New International Version)

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.[b] When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.

1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God;
be my fortress against those who are attacking me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers
and save me from those who are after my blood.
3 See how they lie in wait for me!
Fierce men conspire against me
for no offense or sin of mine, Lord.
4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.
Arise to help me; look on my plight!
5 You, Lord God Almighty,
you who are the God of Israel,
rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
show no mercy to wicked traitors.[c]
6 They return at evening,
snarling like dogs,
and prowl about the city.
7 See what they spew from their mouths —
the words from their lips are sharp as swords,
and they think, “Who can hear us?”
8 But you laugh at them, Lord;
you scoff at all those nations.
9 You are my strength, I watch for you;
you, God, are my fortress,
10 my God on whom I can rely.
God will go before me
and will let me gloat over those who slander me.
11 But do not kill them, Lord our shield,[d]
or my people will forget.
In your might uproot them
and bring them down.
12 For the sins of their mouths,
for the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride.
For the curses and lies they utter,
13 consume them in your wrath,
consume them till they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob.
14 They return at evening,
snarling like dogs,
and prowl about the city.
15 They wander about for food
and howl if not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
17 You are my strength, I sing praise to you;
you, God, are my fortress,
my God on whom I can rely.