An Owings Mills woman was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 18 months in prison for defrauding a bank of more than $400,000, officials said.
Saratou Stewart, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a bank fraud scheme in which she and her husband, Ronald Stewart, 31, an auditor working for CitiFinancial Inc., used the fraudulent expense accounts of false employees he created in the company?s accounting system to take the money, according to the U.S. Attorney?s Office.
For two years starting in September 2003, Ronald Stewart sent false checks and had CitiFinancial wire money to the Canadian bank accounts his wife had created in the fake employees? names, the U.S. Attorney?s Office said.
The money the Stewarts got was put toward an Owings Mills home and a 2005 Lincoln Navigator, the U.S. Attorney?s Office said.
Ronald Stewart earlier pleaded guilty to the scheme, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney?s Office said.
