A Vermont banker accused of taking out bogus loans in his late mother's name has been sued by his former employer for allegedly embezzling $65,000.
Factory Point National Bank in Manchester Center, Vt., is suing former vice president Jeffrey M. Linebeck, who resigned last month after an auditor discovered the loans.
At the time of his resignation, Mr. Linebeck promised to make restitution to the bank of $22,000, but an audit has found $65,000 in allegedly fraudulent loans.
In the lawsuit, filed in Bennington Superior Court, the bank alleged that Mr. Linebeck issued loans for which no promissory notes were held. Mr. Linebeck also allegedly used his own name and that of a friend on the loans.
Factory Point, which has $140 million of assets, obtained a lien on Mr. Linebeck's house and personal property, asserting "there is a real threat that defendant will ... flee the state."
Because of the pending litigation, Factory Point has no comment about the incident, chief executive Guy Boyer said. Mr. Linebeck could not be reached for comment. No criminal charge has been filed, but an investigation is under way.
Commuters on their way to work in downtown Washington got a rare teaser recently from a neighborhood bank: a "key" to the bank's vault.
Well, not exactly a key. But Century National Bank is distributing flyers bearing code numbers. If the number matches one at the bank, that person wins a prize "from the vault" such as dinner for two, theater tickets, or gift certificates to area businesses.
The $110 million-asset bank has been distributing flyers at subway stations near its Pennsylvania Avenue branch.
"Just to be neighborly, Century National Bank invites you to open our vault," the flyer reads. It also invites people to register for its $1,000 grand prize drawing.
