Wells Fargo manager stole over $1M from bank accounts of vulnerable customers, feds say
.jpg "A Wells Fargo bank manager in Washington stole over $1 million from accounts of vulnerable customers, feds say.")
A Wells Fargo bank manager who was fired from his position in Washington stole more than $1 million from his customers, federal prosecutors said.
Brian Davie, 44, of Battle Ground, stole from at least eight vulnerable clients who were unable to keep a close watch on their Wells Fargo accounts — including individuals who were older, had dementia or had “limited English skills,” according to federal prosecutors.
Davie emptied $566,000 from one unsuspecting woman’s retirement accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
He worked as a Wells Fargo manager at the company’s Battle Ground branch from March 2014 until June 2019, when he was fired, prosecutors said. According to his plea agreement, he started stealing from customers in early 2016.
Through his position, he could access his customers’ files and banking information, according to prosecutors.
He stole $1,279,840 from them in total by making unauthorized cash withdrawals from customers’ accounts, using money transfers and cashier’s checks, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 12, Davie pleaded guilty in federal court in Tacoma to bank fraud and identity theft, the attorney’s office said in a news release that day.
Prosecutors recommended Davie be sentenced to four years in prison, the release said.
As part of his scheme, he “opened new accounts in (his) customer’s name without their permission and issued cashier’s checks payable either to Wells Fargo or to a business account of one of his unindicted coconspirators,” the plea agreement says.
He then distributed “these checks into smaller cashier’s checks and/or cash withdrawals,” according to the plea agreement.
Some of the stolen money was deposited into a bank account he created in the name of his stepfather’s business, the plea agreement says.
“He made some of the cashier’s checks payable to (his stepfather) or to the business account he created,” prosecutors said. “Much of the money was withdrawn as cash.”
Tacoma-based criminal defense attorney Michael A. Stewart told McClatchy News on Oct. 13 that his client has “long ago personally accepted full responsibility for his actions,” for which he is remorseful and had occurred when he was “battling addiction.”
“The unindicted co-conspirators referenced in the plea agreement are no longer part of Brian’s life, and he is far better for it,” Stewart said in an email. “Brian’s life looks very different now: free of the influence and drug abuse the unindicted co-conspirators brought into his life, he has been living a quiet life of sobriety and hard work.”
According to prosecutors, Wells Fargo reimbursed all victims who had their money stolen.
Davie is “grateful” for this, Stewart said.
“While he faces certain prison time, he knows that coming clean in all areas of his life is the only path to a meaningful and productive life,” Stewart said. “He is sorry for the pain and turmoil he caused, and looks forward to paying restitution to Wells Fargo which has previously reimbursed all victims.”
The amount of restitution Davie will pay will be decided by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle at his sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 2, according to prosecutors.
“(Davie) acknowledges that he hurt many people, and he struggles carrying that hurt with him every day,” Stewart said.
Battle Ground is in Clark County, about 25 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon.
This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Wells Fargo manager stole over $1M from bank accounts of vulnerable customers, feds say."
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