Former Wachovia Manager Convicted of Fraud

Photo:  Linda Speaks Tribby (Washington Post) 

Econintersect:  Another small fry bank fraudster has been punished.  Linda Speaks Tribby, 42, who pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in March, was sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia to seven years imprisonment.  Tribby was also ordered to make restitution of $14,169,878.  She had admitted to setting up a fake wealth management scheme and then using the funds to buy a helicopter, a luxury motor home, rural houses and property, and exotic animals, including two zebras, according to prosecutors. 

From Financial Advisor Magazine:

“Linda Tribby’s stunning greed and extravagant lifestyle drove her to steal more than $14 million,” MacBride said in a prepared statement.

Tribby had worked for Wachovia — bought by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank in 2008 — for more than 25 years, according to prosecutors. Her last job was as a business-relationship manager developing client accounts in Loudoun County, Va., prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, from roughly December 2003 to January 2011, Tribby sold to some bank customers something she described as a “wealth-management account product” on which customers did not have to pay federal taxes on the account’s earnings. In reality, Wachovia offered no such account.

Prosecutors charged that Tribby then transferred funds from clients’ accounts into accounts that she controlled. She then created fake balance statements for the customers and made periodic interest payments.

Source:  Financial Advisor Magazine and The Washington Post