Fremont Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Clients’ Investment Accounts
Former Citigroup Employee Allegedly Stole a Total of More than $800,000 from More Than 20 Clients
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 12, 2011 |
SAN FRANCISCO—Yesterday afternoon, former Citigroup sales assistant Tamara Lanz Moon pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme in which she forged clients’ signatures and made unauthorized trades in clients’ accounts in order to divert money to pay her own personal expenses, United States Attorney MELINDA HAAG announced. On June 23, 2011, a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted Moon on six counts of mail fraud, and yesterday afternoon she pleaded guilty to all six counts.
According to the indictment, Ms. Moon, 44, formerly of Redwood City and now of Fremont, worked for Citigroup from 1996 until 2008. During that time, she was registered as a general securities representative, and she held both a Series 7 and a Series 63 license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. At Citigroup, Moon’s duties included executing trades for brokers and handling much of the paperwork related to certain clients who had investment accounts with Citigroup.
According to the indictment, Moon operated a scheme through which she stole a total of more than $800,000 from more than 20 of Citigroup’s clients. In pleading guilty, Moon admitted that she falsified account records, forged client signatures, created fake “letters of authorization” to divert client funds, and made unauthorized trades in client accounts. Moon admitted that she used the proceeds of her scheme to pay mortgages, to pay her credit card bills, to pay down her personal home equity line of credit, and to invest in real estate.
Ms. Moon is scheduled to be sentenced on January 17, 2012, before United States District Court Judge William H. Alsup. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, is 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, three years of supervised release, and restitution.
Doug Sprague is the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Rayneisha Booth. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 11-0404 WHA
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.