Ex-JPMorgan Bankers Accused Of ATM Card Fraud

A scam allegedly perpetrated by two private bankers out of a JPMorgan Chase location appears to have been overdrawn, as it were.

For over two years, reports The New York Times, Jonathan Francis and Dion Allison — who worked at a Bedford-Stuyvesant branch of the bank — maintained personal access to 15 high-balance accounts in elderly citizens’ names, using forged documents to create ATM cards which accomplices used to withdraw about $400,000 in total.

Although the accounts in question were dormant — prosecuters believe that the majority, if not the entirety, of them belonged to deceased citizens — they continued to receive deposits from the Social Security Administration (and hence were targeted by the alleged fraudsters) as a result of outdated reporting.

According to a news release from the district attorney’s office, while one of the two accused accomplices — Gregory Desrameaux — has been arraigned (along with Francis and Allison), the second — Kery Phillips — is still at large.

The NYT story points out that this is not the only recent case of JPMorgan employees being accused of fraud. In April, investment adviser Michael Oppenheim was charged (in Manhattan) with stealing $20 million from the bank’s clientele, while in Brooklyn that same month, Chase employee Peter Persaud was accused of selling customer data to an informant and an undercover officer.

As for the current fraud case related to the Bedford-Stuyvesant branch, JPMorgan Chase spokeswoman Lauren Ryan told the Times that the company is “working closely with the authorities and the Social Security Administration” on it.