Former Little Rock Banker Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud, Money Laundering, and Social Security Charges

LITTLE ROCK—Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced that Kelly Harbert, age 46, formerly of Little Rock, Arkansas, plead guilty today to a three-count superseding felony information charging her with a single count of bank fraud, a single count of money laundering and a single count Social Security violation. She had previously been indicted by a federal grand jury in a 22-count indictment charging her with 17 counts of bank fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Harbert previously worked for One Bank and Trust, N.A. (One Bank) as a vice president and commercial loan officer and then later as a senior vice president in Little Rock. In her guilty plea today before United States Chief Judge J. Leon Holmes, Harbert admitted to devising a scheme to defraud various financial institutions by obtaining funds under false pretenses and then converting the proceeds from these fraudulent loans and lines of credit to her own personal use. As a loan officer Harbert had authority to approve unsecured loans in amounts up to $50,000. Using her position at One Bank, Harbert approved various types of unsecured loans and lines of credit in the names of her parents without their knowledge or authorization.

Harbert also used her business relationships with other financial institutions in the Little Rock, Arkansas area to arrange for various types of unsecured loans and lines of credits at these banks in the names of her parents and in the names of some of Harbert’s bank clients, using their personal identifiers all without their knowledge or authorization.

Harbert admitted to money laundering by converting proceeds through deposits and transfers in amounts in excess of $10,000 from one account to another. Lastly, Harbert admitted to willfully and knowingly disclosing and using the Social Security number of another person to commit the bank fraud which is, by itself, a Social Security violation.

Harbert will be sentenced at a later date to be determined by the Court. The maximum statutory penalty for bank fraud is not more than 30 years’ imprisonment and up to a $1,000,000 fine or both with five years’ supervised release. The maximum statutory penalty for money laundering is up to10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 with three years’ supervised release. The Social Security violation is not more than five years’ imprisonment, a fine of not more $250,000 or both and one year of supervised release.

This investigation was conducted by agents from the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Angela S. Jegley.