Ex-Citi exec charged over $19m 'ultimate inside job'

A former Citigroup vice president has been charged with stealing more than $19m (£12m) from the bank in what one US prosecutor called "the ultimate inside job".

Gary Foster, 35, who was vice president of Citigroup's treasury finance department, was arrested yesterday in New York and charged with bank fraud, according to Bloomberg.

Foster is accused of transferring $19.2m from various Citigroup accounts and ultimately to his own account at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"The defendant allegedly used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job," US Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

Foster faces a maximum of 30 years in prison if convicted, according to the statement. 

Citigroup was one of the financial institutions the US government bailed out during the financial crisis in 2008. US taxpayers shouldered a $45bn cash injection for the bank and most of its potential losses on $306bn of toxic assets after its shares sank more than 60%.

Foster, who worked for Citigroup in New York, is alleged to have caused the transfer from last July to December of $900,000 from an interest-expense account and about $14.4m from a debt-adjustment account to the bank's cash account.

Foster is accused of then wiring the money into his personal account.

From May 2009 to the end of 2010, prosecutors claim Foster wired out of Citigroup a total of $19.2m.

Citigroup's treasury finance department funds loans and other business transactions within the bank. Foster supervised the department's derivatives unit, according to the criminal complaint.

Foster joined Citigroup in 1999 and reportedly left voluntarily in January.

A recent internal audit of the department turned up the wire transfers to Foster's personal account, prosecutors alleged.

A Citigroup spokesperson said the bank is "cooperating fully to ensure Mr. Foster is prosecuted to the full extent of the law".