A former Wachovia Bank manager in Virginia who admitted to stealing $14.1 million from bank clients through a bogus wealth management scheme was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Linda Speaks Tribby, 42, who pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in March, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va. Tribby used the funds to buy a helicopter, a luxury motor home, rural houses and property, and exotic animals, including two zebras, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady ordered Tribby to make full restitution to victims and forfeit property, funds held in bank accounts and the helicopter.
Tribby, of Lovettsville, was an employee of Wachovia (which was bought by Wells Fargo & Co. in 2008) and its predecessors for more than 25 years, according to prosecutors.
From about December 2003 to January, Tribby sold some customers on a "wealth management account product" that she said earned tax-free interest — a product the bank didn't offer — then transferred funds from their accounts into accounts that she controlled, prosecutors charged. An internal investigation uncovered the fraud, and the bank is working to reimburse affected customers, Aimee Worlsey, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said at the time of Tribby's plea in March.
