Fremont Woman Arrested for Stealing from Clients’ Investment Accounts
Former Citigroup Employee Allegedly Stole a Total of More than $800,000 from More than 20 Clients

SAN FRANCISCO—Today agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Tamara Lanz Moon based on charges that she stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients at Citigroup, 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 that Indictment was unsealed this morning after Moon’s arrest.

According to the Indictment, Moon, 43, 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. Moon allegedly falsified account records, forged client signatures, created fake “letters of authorization” to divert client funds, and made unauthorized trades in client accounts. According to the Indictment, Moon used the proceeds of her scheme to remodel her home, to pay mortgages on properties she owned, to pay her credit card bills, to pay down her personal home equity line of credit, and to invest in real estate.

After she was arrested this morning, Moon appeared in Court and was arraigned on the Indictment. She was released on bail and ordered to appear before United States District Court Judge William H. Alsup on July 5, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.

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. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Doug Sprague and Robin Harris are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are 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.

Please note, an indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Ms. Moon must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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.