Bank manager stole over $250K from customer accounts at Louisiana branch, feds say
A former branch manager at a Louisiana bank will serve jail time after misusing his access to customer accounts and stealing more than $250,000, federal officials said.
Eric Schouest oversaw business transactions and practices at Regions Bank in Baton Rouge for over a decade, but in 2020, he started stealing money from customers and depositing it in his personal accounts housed at other banks, according to court records.
Now, he’s sentenced to 30 months in prison with two years of supervised release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana said in a Dec. 4 news release. He’s also ordered to pay more than $85,000 in restitution.
McClatchy News reached out to Schouest’s attorney Dec. 5 but did not receive an immediate response.
According to court records, Schouest stole money from four different accounts by issuing closing withdrawal cashier’s checks, rerouting checks to his personal accounts and writing fraudulent emails to bank employees as cover-up.
In July 2020, a bank security investigator contacted Schouest about suspicious activity within one of the accounts he was taking money from, and Schouest responded with forged documents to make it seem as if the account owner’s relative authorized a withdrawal, according to court records.
Then, he returned the amount in question — over $90,000 — to the bank account, but he kept more than $3,700 of a cash withdrawal taken from the account, court records show.
On a separate occasion, Schouest told an employee he “messed up” a payee on a cashier’s check and was looking for a reissued check, later responding that he “tracked it down,” and the funds were back in the account, court records show. Schouest again returned the money to the account but kept a cash withdrawal of over $3,700.
“Schouest exploited his position of trust at Regions Bank to embezzle funds from customers and deposit the money into his personal bank accounts,” prosecutors said.
According to court records, Schouest was terminated in April 2021.
Jeremy King, a spokesperson for Regions Bank, told McClatchy News that all accounts impacted were reimbursed.
“Our company deeply values the trust people place in us,” King said. “What happened here simply does not reflect the way our local Regions team is committed to serving the people and businesses of Baton Rouge.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Bank manager stole over $250K from customer accounts at Louisiana branch, feds say."
