A former mortgage servicing executive at Synovus Financial has been barred from the banking industry for allegedly embezzling funds.
Angela Garcia deposited more than $69,000 from the Columbus, Georgia, company’s general ledger account into accounts for her relatives, according to a prohibition order issued Thursday by the Federal Reserve.
Garcia, who had been senior vice president and residential loan servicing director at Synovus, made fraudulent entries in the bank’s records in an effort to hide the transfers, which took place between 2020 and 2021, according to the Fed.
Garcia agreed to pay back the embezzled funds, the order stated. She did not admit or deny any of the alleged wrongdoing.
It’s unclear if criminal charges have been filed against Garcia, who was fired from the $56 billion-asset company in June 2021 and no longer works in the industry. A Synovus spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Employee fraud is typically more pervasive in banking than other industries, according to a study released in 2020 by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
About one-third of the time, cases are not referred to law enforcement and are instead settled, the study found. In cases where criminal charges are pursued, the median loss is about $200,000, according to the research.
