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FDLE Charges Two Bank Employees With Fraud, Identity Theft
March 8, 2022
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has arrested two bank employees in Escambia County for fraud and identity theft.
Tiwuan Williams, 26, and Stephon Pugh-Davis, 27, for scheme to defraud, criminal use of personal identification information, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and conspiracy to commit a felony.
The investigation began in June 2021 when a local financial institution reported suspected internal fraud being committed by employees Williams and Pugh-Davis.
Agents discovered that Williams recruited other employees, including Pugh-Davis, to provide him with customer account details in order to facilitate fraudulent transfers into money mule accounts. A money mule is someone who transfers or moves illegally acquired money on behalf of someone else.
The investigation showed that Williams attempted to facilitate the transfer of more than $165,000 through more than 30 victim accounts, while Pugh-Davis assisted with more than 20 of the fraudulent transfers, according to FDLE.
Williams was arrested on March 4, while Pugh-Davis was arrested Monday morning. Each was booked into the Escambia County Jail on a $300,000 bond.
FDLE did not identify the financial institution involved.
Comments
8 Responses to “FDLE Charges Two Bank Employees With Fraud, Identity Theft”
It’s definitely more to the story than meets the eye don’t blame it on someone without true fact question how long has these employees had excess to bank keys for this so-called bank is a loose also with people’s money ? this is not the first time someone else hands is in the cookie jar very strange dealing with someone’s money that is not yours and taking hard working citizens like myself who can you truly trust
I would say kudos for the institution doing proper monitoring and reporting findings to the authorities. There are tons of people that pass a background check that may not be honest upstanding individuals. Also, when a person runs into financial difficulties there is no telling what will happen when they work someplace like financial institution. Why blame the bank for hiring practices? They did their due diligence and monitoring and found employees that were dishonest AND reported them to authorities. I guess everyone (especially lawyers) want folks to find SOMETHING to sue over…SMH
I am researching FDLE rules & regulations if they can withhold the name of the bank.
The only reason i can think of FDLE would wouldn’t not identify the financial institution involved is because there may be more investigation ongoing.
Otherwise there is no excuse not to release the institution. I would like to know what financial institution hired these individuals and what their hiring practices are. Because if they failed to do a proper background check there will be lawsuits coming and reports to the BBB. And if I happen to be a member of thus institution, I will close all my accounts and move elsewhere if I find their hiring practices are suspect. I don’t care who needs a job, I want my money safe. I do not care about your sob story of “oh, we don’t do background checks…” blah blah blah.
Check your bank accounts. If you see money missing…it could have been that institution.
“FDLE did not identify the financial institution involved.” So… it would be nice for people to know if where they keep their checking and savings accounts is secure.
At least they will never have to worry about employment in a financial institution; for the rest of their lives.
Banking institution not identified. special treatment to preserve their reputation and to keep their customers? I would want to know if my money was compromised. Lock the bastards up and throw away the key