Manager Embezzled Funds for Approximately 10 Years
SAN JOSE – LAWFUEL – Press Release Service – United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan announced that Rose Magpantay Valdez
pleaded guilty on July 12, 2006, to bank embezzlement. Ms. Valdez, 44, of San Jose,
was employed by the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 1984 until 2005 and served as
Manager of the Structured Finance Department at the 3003 Tasman Drive, Santa Clara,
California branch from 1995 until 2005. This guilty plea is the result of an
investigation by the FBI. The Silicon Valley Bank security personnel assisted in the
investigation.
In pleading guilty, Ms. Valdez admitted to the following:
In approximately 1995, she discovered a way to steal bank funds for her own
personal use by exploiting a weakness in the security systems in place. From 1995
until 2005, with a brief hiatus in 1997, Ms. Valdez embezzled funds from the bank
and deposited them in her personal SVB account. Because Ms. Valdez served as a
bank manager, she had access to the bank’s general ledger accounts and the
authority to move monies from one general ledger account to another, with the
approval and initials of one of several other authorized bank employees. Ms.
Valdez stole funds by filling out debit and credit slips that reflected that
monies were being transferred from one general ledger account to another pursuant
to bank business. Ms. Valdez would then illegibly scribble fictitious names on the
slips, initial the slips, and submit them to another authorized bank employee to
approve and initial. The employee would return the slips to Ms. Valdez, who would
replace the deposit slips with her own slips in the same dollar amount. Ms. Valdez
admitted to using odd dollar amounts so as not to arouse suspicion. She would then
deposit the monies into her own personal SVB account. Ms. Valdez stated that she
carried out this embezzlement for approximately 10 years. The bank was federally
insured throughout the period during which she committed her thefts.
Ms. Valdez was charged by information with one count of bank embezzlement in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656.
The sentencing of Ms. Valdez is scheduled for October 18, 2006, before Judge Jeremy
Fogel in San Jose. The maximum statutory penalty for bank embezzlement is 30 years
imprisonment, a fine of $1,000,000, 5 years supervised release term, and a $100
mandatory assessment. 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.
Thomas O’Connell is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case.
