The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has banned eight former bankers from future work in the industry, the agency disclosed Thursday.
Sixto Christopher Porras, an associate banker at a JPMorgan Chase branch in San Francisco, California, made several unauthorized withdrawals from bank customers’ accounts totaling nearly $440,000 between August and September 2023, the OCC said. He was an employee of the bank from October 2021 to October 2023.
Porras “engaged in violations of law and engaged in unsafe or unsound practices,” causing loss to the bank and financial gain for himself, and he “demonstrated personal dishonesty as well as willful disregard for the safety and soundness of the Bank,” the OCC said.
Kyla A. Hartley, a former part-time associate banker at a Brooklyn, New York, branch of JPMorgan Chase, processed fraudulent check deposits with cash withdrawals from customer accounts between February and April 2023, the regulator said. She was fired in May that year. The illegal activities caused roughly $196,250 in losses to the bank, the OCC said.
Harold Serenot, a former customer service representative of TD Bank, fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in March 2021, the agency said. In the PPP application, Serenot falsely claimed to operate a sole proprietorship with an average monthly payroll of $8,333 that had been established in January 2016, but no such proprietorship existed.
Serenot received the first PPP loan of $20,833 on April 8, 2021, and a second PPP loan of $20,833 later that month. He was employed at the bank from April 2016 to October 2021. In 2023, Serenot pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the OCC said.
Amalia Rivera, a former teller and teller manager at a Bristol, Connecticut, TD branch, accessed nearly two dozen customer accounts without a valid need and disclosed customer information to unauthorized third parties between June and September 2021, the OCC said.
Rivera and others participated in customer impersonation schemes, allowed unauthorized third parties to impersonate customers and facilitated fraudulent withdrawals from customer accounts, according to the OCC. Rivera pocketed roughly $1,550, while TD suffered approximately $120,000 in losses, the agency said. She worked at TD from March 2018 to September 2021.
Maricela Galindo Celestino, a former bank teller at a Trenton, New Jersey PNC branch, accessed customer accounts several times without legitimate authorization, forged customers’ signatures on certain documents and embezzled their funds for her personal benefit, according to the OCC. This led to a loss of $105,926.90 to the bank.
Karen Lopez, a former assistant branch manager at First National Bank Texas of Killeen, Texas made multiple unauthorized cash withdrawals from customer checking accounts for her benefit, withdrawing at least $18,600 from those accounts, the OCC said. She worked at the bank from 2018 to August 2022, most recently at a branch in Conroe, Texas.
Nikki Lynn Ward, a former assistant retail manager at a Houston-area branch of First Financial Bank of Abilene, Texas, misappropriated roughly $47,500 from the bank’s vault, the OCC said. She was an employee of the bank’s branch from 2013 to November 2022.
Kristin M. Sanguinetti worked as a teller at a Lakewood, New Jersey, branch of Santander Bank between October 2011 and July 2021. Between June 2020 and June 2021, she was an ATM custodian at the bank’s branch and misappropriated approximately $51,800, the OCC said.
The former bankers neither admitted nor denied the allegations but consented to the prohibition orders.
They are prohibited from participating in the affairs of specified banks. However, the orders also include a provision allowing the prohibition to be lifted for a specific institution if the person obtains written consent from both the OCC and the appropriate federal regulatory agency.
