Bank employee charged with stealing around $25k

Cayman Islands courthouse, George Town

(CNS) A former assistant manager with Cayman National Bank has been charged with stealing around $25,000 from customers and the bank by various means over a three-year period. Dale Antonio Allen appeared in Summary Court Monday to answer the charges but the case was adjourned when the magistrate heard that the prosecution and defence had not yet agreed a basis of plea to cover the long list of charges leveled at Allen.

Facing one count of false accounting, eleven counts of obtaining property by deception and a dozen money laundering charges, Allen has so far only entered formal pleas to false accounting, though he confessed to the catalogue of fraudulent offences following his arrest when interviewed by the RCIPS Financial Crimes Unit.

The one-time bank employee was caught after a review of a customer’s mortgage account revealed that some $2,000 had gone astray. Allen at first lied to cover his tracks, but when a further 16 possible frauds were uncovered he was arrested and made the full admissions.

Allen is accused of using various means to deceive his bosses and steal cash from customers and the bank, and taking advantage of his position to endorse fraudulent transactions, such as altering drafts and forging withdrawal slips, and paying cheques and drafts into accounts belonging to his friends and then withdrawing the cash.

Although bailed by the magistrate, Allen was reminded that he will be facing a custodial sentence. The case was adjourned until 15 August.