Wells Fargo manager stole $1.2M from vulnerable customers, feds say. He’s prison-bound
A former Wells Fargo bank manager is going to prison after federal prosecutors say he used his position to steal more than $1.2 million from his customers in Washington.
“Eight vulnerable senior citizens had their retirement accounts decimated at the time when they needed them most,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Dillon wrote in sentencing documents filed in Tacoma federal court.
The customers were all older than 70 — including three diagnosed with dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease, two who had a limited understanding of English and one who was unable to read or write, according to a sentencing memorandum.
Brian Davie, 44, of Battle Ground, stole $1,279,840 from these individuals by making unauthorized cash withdrawals from their accounts, using money transfers and cashier’s checks, prosecutors said.
One woman had $566,000 stolen from her accounts, according to prosecutors.
Davie 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, McClatchy News previously reported.
“As a bank manager, (Davie) knew better,” Dillon wrote in the sentencing memo.
On Feb. 20, Davie was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced in a news release.
He pleaded guilty to the charges in October, McClatchy News reported.
Tacoma-based criminal defense attorney Michael A. Stewart told McClatchy News on Feb. 21 that his client has accepted the sentence the court imposed “after fully, fairly, and thoughtfully weighing a variety of sentencing factors.”
The factors included Davie’s “lack of criminal history and the role that substance abuse played in this offense,” specifically cocaine, Stewart said.
“Brian is a good man whose addiction to cocaine lead to his personal downfall, harm to the customers of Wells Fargo, and the breakup and dislocation of his family,” Stewart added. “After prison and treatment, he will live his life making amends to all those he has harmed.”
Customers have been ‘partially reimbursed,’ feds say
Davie’s position as bank manager allowed him to access customer files and banking information, according to prosecutors, who described his scheme as “complex.”
“He opened new accounts in the customer’s name and then transferred out money into cashiers checks payable to either Wells Fargo or the business account of one of his unindicted coconspirators,” the sentencing memo says. “(He) then distributed these checks into smaller cashier’s checks and/or cash withdrawals to both make the money trail more difficult to follow and to avoid banking reporting requirements.”
Some of the stolen money was deposited into a bank account he created in the name of his stepfather’s business, according to his plea agreement.
“Davie continued undetected because he stole from elderly customers who might be less likely to closely monitor their account balances,” prosecutors said in the release.
At Davie’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said “the wake of damage in this case is large.”
As of Feb. 20, Wells Fargo has “partially reimbursed” eight of Davie’s customers, according to the attorney’s office.
Stewart told McClatchy News that Davie “has offered to help all victims receive full reimbursement from Wells Fargo.”
“It has been disappointing that Wells Fargo has not fully cooperated nor, according to the FBI estimates, fully reimbursed the victims for money that was wrongfully taken by its bank manager,” Stewart said. “Brian is trying to right this.”
Wells Fargo spokesman Tony Timmons told McClatchy News in an email on Feb. 21 that “a final reimbursement is in progress.”
“We take issues of financial misconduct very seriously, and do not tolerate such behavior in our company,” Timmons said.
Wells Fargo “immediately terminated” Davie after the company discovered the “embezzlement” and has “cooperated openly and fully with law enforcement throughout its investigation,” according to Timmons.
Settle is expected to order Davie to pay restitution on March 18, when he will decide on the amount, prosecutors said.
Stewart said Davie has since offered “heartfelt and sincere” apologies to his victims and his family.
“He is grateful for and fully embraces the substance abuse and mental health treatment requirements the Court set forth in sentencing,” Stewart added.
Battle Ground is in Clark County, about 25 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon.
This story was originally published February 21, 2024 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Wells Fargo manager stole $1.2M from vulnerable customers, feds say. He’s prison-bound."
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