Former bank employee found guilty of $29k theft
(CNS): A George Town man and former employee of the Royal Bank of Canada was found guilty on Monday afternoon of stealing more than US$29,000 from a customer’s account when he forged the signatures of clients on documents. Erick Adam was convicted on two counts by a jury of four men and three women following a trial in which he was accused of creating a fictitious couple, whom he attempted to blame for the crime. The theft, which took place in September 2009, came to light when the account holders from whom Adam had stolen the cash came to the bank to look at their fixed term deposit account and discovered it was empty.
Adam, who is the son of Community Affairs Minister Mike Adam, was remanded in custody following the jury’s guilty verdict and has been scheduled for sentencing on 6 June.
The court heard during the trial in Grand Court last week that Adam, who was at the time a personal financial representative at the bank, was the one who had closed the account, ordered a bankers draft and cashed that draft on behalf of what the prosecution said was an invented couple. When Adam’s fraud came to light, the crown said he then claimed he was the victim of a scam and had mistakenly given money to a couple who had conned him.
The prosecution said Adam had planned and set up the theft a few days beforehand when he contacted a more senior member of staff to ask how he could close a fixed term account for a customer who wanted to come into the bank on the Monday and draw out their cash. On the Monday Adam then organised for a bankers draft for what the crown claimed was a fictitious customer and forged the signature of the real account holders’ daughter on the necessary paperwork.
When the real couple and holders of the account turned up to check on their money some eleven days later, Adam’s name was on the paperwork as the bank’s staff member who had closed the account. At that point the defendant had said it was time to alert the police as it was clear a fraud had taken place. Adam claimed he had made a major mistake as he had not photocopied the driver’s licence of the woman who had signed for and taken the money but he denied stealing the cash himself.
During the investigation Adam gave the police a description of the couple he said had taken the money and had offered to look at bank CCTV footage to identify them. However, it was discovered that there was no security camera footage for the day that the scam had taken place as there was something wrong with the CCTV.
As the investigation developed, the finger of suspicion turned on Adam as no one else in the bank had seen the couple and Adam appeared to have deliberately evaded the bank’s normal protocols in order to close the account, order a draft and then cash the draft, leading to the conclusion that it was him that had stolen the cash.
Category: Crime
"many of the procedures at the bank put in place to prevent this type of fraud were lax and were easily breached by Adam as he perpetrated the fraud on an account that had been inactive for many years."
He probably got the idea from his fathers UDP government when they brought in that Dormant Accounts Law so Government could claim all the funds from inactive and dormant accounts accross the whole island…
It is amazing to me the amount of greed we see exhibited by those who already have more than enough.
A very significant jail sentence is needy for this dishonest man. There are Caymanians convicted of stealing from banks while working there on a very very regular basis and the sentencing has typcially been far too light. Given how much pressure there is on banks to hire Caymanians for these positions and given how few people there are to really fill these jobs, there must be a firm stand against those that behave like this. This time there have been no sob stories of excuses which might sway a weak judge, it just sounds like good old fashioned deceit. Let's make sure it is followed with good old fashioned jail time.
Hilarious!! Keep you money in Cayman Islands banks!!! After I moved to Grand Cayman and opened my account in one of the Banks, I could not believe what kind of things were possible there. I could just tell a teller your account number and get cash WHITHOUT checking my ID. Yes, I mean it, just an account number, not even my name. You could wire money to anywhere ( this particular bank required hand written wire transfer form) without anyone checking your identification. I could as well write anyone's account number and transfer to my account overseas. I confronted the Bank numerous times, I asked them why would they hand me cash without checking my ID. I was told once that they can see my photo on the screeen, I asked to look at it, and imagine that!!, a teller just turned her coumputer screen to me !!! (I could be anyone!!!), and of course there was no photo of me anywhere. I will skip the other horror stories with this bank I and my co-workers experienced. How much time, energy it wasted and how much stress it created it our lives. All of us, eventually switched to a different bank, which is somewht better, but still far from what should be expeced from a Bank. Take their customer service people answering phones- they should be called "staff that pickes up a phone when it rings"- they do not know ANYTHING, can't answer a simple question they asked. You get transfered 5 times before a competent person is reached and your got an answer. Any teller at US bank will always competenltly answer your most complex question. Now you ask me WHO are we dealing with? You guess- not expats. Incompetence, ineptness everywhere you look- police, helath care, banks,communication service, etc. Mind me, I love a respect caymanian people. But if this country wants to attract business and remain world's financial center, it has to provide world class business. One have to look why things the way they are. May be teach them differently? I am sure they will learn.
Must be the same bank my employer used 15 years ago. I actually endorsed my paycheck using "Minnie Mouse" just to see if they would cash the check.
You guessed it, they did! I could have reported it stolen and had another check issued. Instead I called an hour later to inform the Manager what I was able to do. He asked which teller and I said that it didn't matter, it happened 2 weeks prior.
Thereafter, I was always asked for ID. I hope that means that they changed their practice of not seeing an ID.
What a life. Surrounded by thieves!
His actions not only embarrass his family and friends, but remind us of the entitlement culture that our young kids are growing up with. Kids today seem to have a horrific sense of greed and avarice. When they see something that they want, rather than working hard to get it, they feel entitled to steal it. Coverting thy neighbors goods. I hope the judge throws the book at him. Far too many young kids here feel this is an acceptable way to behave. That’s what is so shocking. That so many kids do this. And this guy will learn the hard way what happens. Not only will he get a immediate sting of the punishment (fine, imprisonment) he will also find that future employers shun him from positions of trust. I’ll never employ him in one of my stores as he has proven he can’t be trusted. His life is going to get a LOT harder. He will find the legacy of his actions lingers around him like a bad smell for a very long time.
The word is "coveting" …from covet, as in to desire or to want or crave
So "thou shalt not cowitch thy neighbour's ass" is something entirely different from what I thought it was?
How very fitting, with all the recent events in Cayman. I am quite certain that if this were an RBC employee, who happened to be a foreigner, than Cayman would be screaming for blood and/or the death penalty…I guess y'all really do protect your "own". Good job smearing your good reputation globally and using the internet as your tool…well played Cayman, well played…
This is unfortunate, but instinctively I wonder if there isnt a psychology behind what happened. How old he? You see, he appears to come from a stable, well off family. I do not believe he needed this money (even if he did that doesnt make it ok to steal) so why do it? Was he screaming for attention? The way he went about it made it quite easy to get caught (he could have gone another step and not sign the paperwork himself), so was he subconsciously trying to get caught. I don't think its always a situation where someone is just bad. If he was raied the same as other siblings (I assume, I don't know) then why has HE done this? It sounds more to me like a cry for help. I hope this young mad accepts responsibility for his actions and I hope he faces the consequences and gets help.
And then they want to fingerprint ex-pats. Not the ex-pats that I am seeing being hauled before the courts for all sorts of crimes.
My sympathies to the Adam family. This one has got to hurt.
"And then they want to fingerprint ex-pats. Not the ex-pats that I am seeing being hauled before the courts for all sorts of crimes".
I think is the point. They need the fingerprint evidence so the expats don't get away with the crimes they commit. Of course much of the crime in Cayman is committed by Caymanians but that is not to say that there are no expats committing crimes. Most of the crimes in the U.S. are committed by Americans but they fingerprint only the foreigners at the airport.
Expats have committed horrible crimes here!
Really and truly you people amaze me. Do you all feel sorry for the parents of the baker? No, all you wrote was about Caymanians getting fleeced by foreigners. Fleeced my behind. The Caymanians are just as crooked as the foreigners.
If not more…the motto here is "you gotta go crooked b4 you can go straight bobo"
People like you need to crawl back into the hole you came out from. Who the hell Caymanians have to worry about but Cayman and Caymanians. When you get all you can and can afford to go back to your country, we the Caymanians have to remain here and pick up the pieces. Where do you think the baker sent his stolen dough? Well, when he finishes his time he can go back to the big house he built from the dough and do his own business. Where will the Caymanian go and what will he do? Do you suppose he will be able to get a decent job again? EVER! It will always amaze me at how much resentment you expats have for our little island and its people. Did it ocurr to anyone that they are free to leave at anytime..GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDENCE ! There are a lot of good people who would be an asset to the Cayman Islands waiting for the opportunity you have. I am a Caymanian living in the US and I have not met one single American that would not jump at the opportunity to live in the Cayman Islands for one reason or the other. America is the greatest country in the world, and I have not seen so much proverty & hardship. "Caymanians are just as crooked as the foreigners" I agree 100% but I wonder who you compare your nationality with. If am correct your kind is so unique in crookedness one could say that they wrote the book "Learn The Correct Way on How TO Be A Crook For Dummies". Furthermore, in case you never heard the saying "Don't Bite the Hand that Fed You." Yes, yes, Cayman needs the foreigners but for heaven sake, stop disrespecting the Cayman Islands and its people. There must be a good reason why the foreigners can't live in their own country and choose to live on a little rock…obviously, their big country don't have what Cayman have.
sentencing will be interesting…..
Dear Hon Minister,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time. We cannot assume responsibility for our kids actions especially when they do not uphold the values we instill in them. One great concern though there seems to be something wrong in the constant deception by the theft of monies from banks in our Islands, especially from young staff. Royal Bank will have to review their banking policies internally. It is scary. The number of thefts in that bank seems to be on the rise. Hopefully, Management will need to evaluate and make recommendations on who is authorized to sign off on documents and how records for clients are kept.
Surely there is a serious lack of internal controls in place. Who are the auditors of this bank?
If $30k is material they are in trouble!
Your thoughts and prayers are with the Adam Family???? My goodness no one died, their son commited a crime and thats that!!!
Well don't think or pray for them, then. No kids, eh?
Tolerance? He needs a good whopping on his backside no matter what age they are. What an embarrassment for his family but more importantly he is helping destroy one of our bread and butters: banking. Do you realize what happens when people lose trust in their banks? Do you realize how bad this looks? The premier is being investigated for financial irregularities among other things and one of his Minister's son stole from a bank.
You know I've found that a good majority of these young ppl who do this sort of thing, stealing etc… comes from good families and you'd never expect this type of behavior from them. I feel bad for his parents but I would surely have to give my son a proper ass whooping before sending him of to jail.
I am sorry for Mike and his wife who will be very upset by this…they are decent people.
Lets hope this young man is afforded the same tolerance as the self serving "developer" who was caught trying to steal a 7 figure sum from his clients, and got nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Perhaps you would care to identify said “developer” and state what they were criminally charged, found guilty of and the sentence handed down and don’t say Michael Ryan, because as much as I don’t like the guy, he hasn’t been convicted of anything, so keep your silly “tolerance” comments to yourself. This young man was found guilty of fraud and who his parents are should have nothing to do with his sentence.
Yes you are right of course, just feel sorry for the parents.
Not Michael Ryan..long before his time.
How can this young man embrass his father this way and let himself and his precious mother down. It just goes to show that no matter how hard good parents try to raise their children in a wholesome and stable home, there is no guarantee that these children are going to live a life reflective of their upbringing. It is hard to say, being a mother of a son who has choosen to live on the wrong side of the law, and whom I am fighting very hard for, but the damage has already been done, he needs some jail time. Togive him a slap on the wrist will only inconvenient him and the real lesson will not be learned. Satan is trying so hard to kill and destroy our children because he knows his time is short, so as parents we need to pray for all the children and ask God to cover them with the blood of Jesus.
Let us hope he is afforded a long spell in jail.
Well the baker got 6 years for "rolling in dough" worth 300k for swindling Foster's so the minister's son may just get a slap on the wrist as I'm sure the $29k has been repaid already with interest *wink*