San Diego
A 54-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to bank fraud and bribery of a bank employee as part of an elaborate check-kiting scheme last year involving Home Federal, Union Bank and other financial institutions.
The U.S. attorney’s office said John R. Walsh, 54, also known as John R. Spencer, Jack Walsh and Jack Will, said he was a real estate developer and defrauded Home Federal of $117,162 by persuading an employee to deposit his checks as cash and then writing other checks from that amount to his relatives and creditors.
After the checks he deposited bounced, he persuaded Home Federal employees to resubmit the checks by providing the bank with a $150,000 check. That check also bounced.
Federal officials say Walsh also tried to bribe a Union Bank employee to deposit his checks there as cash.
The U.S. attorney’s office will ask that Walsh be sentenced to 15 years in prison without parole. The maximum penalty is 40 years in prison and a $2-million fine.
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