A former US bank officer who used fraudulent letters of credit (L/Cs) as just one way of stealing more than US$450,000 from the bank where he was employed has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Former loan officer Trow Posten now faces a jail sentence of up to 30 years and a fine of up to US$1 million.

Fraudulent L/Cs

Posten was charged with fraudulently obtaining loans, lines of credit and funds from customers' bank accounts.

As well as issuing fraudulent L/Cs, he extended loans to bank customers but diverted the proceeds of these into to his own personal accounts.

Personal accounts

The former banker also drew on bank customers' lines of credit to make payments on his personal accounts, loans and credit cards.

Posten also issued cashiers' cheques that were deposited in his personal accounts during a four-year period between 2004 and 2008 when his crimes were detected.

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