Three former bank workers slapped with prohibitions after alleged fraud, exploiting elders

Three bank workers were prohibited from further employment by financial institutions under orders issued in April by the federal bank deposit insurance agency, it said Friday.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), those prohibited were:

• Maggie Kay Schaefer, formerly of First Financial Bank in Winnebago of Winnebago, Minn.;
• Binita Krautler, formerly of Truist Bank in Charlotte, N.C.;
• Kelly J. Meade, formerly of Eva Bank of Eva, Ala.

The FDIC contended that Schaefer, while working as a teller at the Minnesota bank, from 2018 to 2023 “created fictitious cash withdrawals utilizing Bank customer information without their knowledge, misappropriated funds from Bank customer accounts, and used the proceeds from the fictitious cash withdrawals for her personal gain.” It added that Schaefer pleaded guilty to embezzlement by a bank employee in December.

Krautler, formerly of Truist Bank, the FDIC alleged, in 2020 “misused her position” at the bank “to exploit two elderly Bank customers.” More specifically, the agency said, Krautler issued bank checks drawn on the customer accounts and accessed the bank’s systems to complete the transactions without the customer at the bank. “To conceal the Respondent’s financial benefit, Respondent made the Bank checks payable to Respondent’s mother and the lender on Respondent’s vehicle loan,” the FDIC charged. She consented to the prohibition order in December, the agency said.

Meade, a former vice president of Eva Bank, allegedly misapplied funds in 2019 and 2020 from a construction loan made to Meade’s company by using construction loan funds to make personal investments unrelated to the construction project. “

“In addition, Respondent and Respondent’s partner entered into a contract with a third-party purchaser to build the same residential property constituting the Bank’s collateral for the construction loan in exchange for additional payments from the third-party purchaser, commingled construction loan draws and third-party apurchaser’s funds, and used portions of the commingled funds to pay personal and other unrelated expenses,” the agency charged.

“Respondent failed to disclose information relating to the third-party contract to the Bank, and as a result, impaired the Bank’s collateral and ultimately caused loss to the Bank,” the FDIC said.

FDIC Publishes April Enforcement Actions