Miami Resident Convicted of Bank Bribery Charges

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced that on Friday a federal jury in Miami found Fernando Benner, of Miami-Dade County, guilty of bribery charges following a trial before U.S. District Court Judge Federico Moreno.

The jury convicted Benner of one count of conspiracy to bribe a bank officer and one count of bribing a bank officer. Sentencing has been scheduled for December 18, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. Benner faces a maximum of 30 years’ imprisonment.

According to evidence presented during the trial, Benner was approached by his co-defendant who had discovered what he thought were two “abandoned” bank accounts at Bank of America. Bank of America had frozen the accounts because they suspected the accounts were being used in connection with a healthcare fraud scheme. The accounts contained over $700,000.

Brenner attempted to bribe what he thought was a corrupt Bank of America employee to remove the freeze which had been placed on the accounts. Benner agreed to pay the would-be bank employee a percentage of the funds in the frozen accounts.

Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alicia E. Shick and Daren Grove.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.