Banker charged in $575G embezzlement scheme

Delaware County's white-collar detectives have busted a former Wachovia Bank "financial specialist" for allegedly attempting to embezzle $574,314.69 by transferring cash from customer accounts – many of them in the names of senior citizens – into a network of accounts he'd set up.

Librado Wright, 30, faces felony counts of theft, forgery, identity theft and related offenses. He worked for Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) from February 2008 to March 2009. Police say none of the transfers were authorized by the account holders.

"This defendant greedily attempted to enrich himself at the expense of senior members of our community," said District Attorney G. Michael Green. "It is important that everyone, including seniors, monitor their financial assets and report any suspicious or unauthorized transactions as soon as possible."

Wright has failed to post bail while awaiting his preliminary hearing, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

In recent years, Delco has become something of a destination for big-money embezzlers. Either that, or county detectives are just really good at catching them. Some of the crooks even got elected afterward.  Then you have the late Betty Greenawalt, a nice lady who looked more likely to bake you an apple pie than steal $1 million from under your nose. And sometimes the money just blows right out the window on a brisk Fall day.

Update: Just read through the arrest affidavit. One of the accounts Wright allegedly created was called "Wright Ideas Corporation." Priceless ...