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FBI clears federal attorney in Nevada; ex-husband admitted stealing millions from bank
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Feb. 9, 2011 | 9:50 a.m.
No investigation is under way and no charges are expected against a federal prosecutor in Nevada whose husband admitted to stealing more than $3.7 million from a bank in Ely.
Sudabeh Fahami remains on the job as deputy chief in charge of the U.S. attorney's branch office in Reno as her now-ex-husband, Stephen Marich, awaits sentencing on a federal charge of embezzlement by a bank officer or employee.
Lauren Howrood, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento, Calif., said the FBI extensively investigated the case and determined that no one other than Marich was involved.
The 43-year-old former Ely city councilman entered a guilty plea on Monday, the same day the criminal complaint was filed against him.
According to court documents, Marich used his job as vice president of the First National Bank of Ely to pilfer the money from customers' Treasury bill accounts. The thefts went on for at least nine years as Marich fueled a gambling habit that had him placing bets with Internet casinos overseas.
Bank officials discovered the crime in early December 2009. When they confronted Marich, he skipped town, said bank president John Gianoli.
Marich abruptly resigned from the Ely City Council a month later. His short letter to the city gave no explanation for why he decided to quit less than seven months into his third term.
The maximum penalty for embezzlement of more than $1 million by a bank employee is 30 years in prison, but Marich is not expected to spend that much time behind bars.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will push for the minimum prison sentence recommended by federal probation officials, though the judge in the case will have the final say.
Sentencing is set for May 11.
Reno attorney Scott N. Freeman, who represents Marich, said he expects his client to get some prison time but it's unclear how much.
"Mr. Marich had a horrible, horrible gambling problem that got out of control," Freeman said. "He has nothing to show for it."
From November 2000 to December 2009, Marich used forged cashier's checks to embezzle more than $2.1 million from T-bill accounts to pay his credit card bills and overseas gambling debts.
He used wire transfers to funnel an additional $1.6 million to himself over a three-year span.
The U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento handled his prosecution because of Fahami's position in Nevada.
A message left for Fahami at her Reno office was not returned Tuesday.
Fahami previously worked in Ely as White Pine County district attorney. After she became a federal prosecutor, Marich split his time between Reno and Ely, a city of about 4,300 people 250 miles north of Las Vegas.
White Pine County Sheriff Dan Watts got to know both Fahami and Marich over the years. He has no trouble believing that Marich was able to keep his embezzlement and gambling addiction a secret from his wife as long as he did.
"I understand it was as big a shock to her as anyone," Watts said.
Marich certainly didn't live like a millionaire. He had a nice house in Ely, but it wasn't a mansion, the sheriff said. "He didn't even buy new vehicles."
Property records show the couple paid almost $550,000 for a four-bedroom house on a Reno golf course on Nov. 24, 2009. Marich transferred his ownership stake in the house to his wife on Dec. 11, 2009, just days after he fled his job at the bank in Ely.
On Dec. 15, 2009, Fahami sold another house she had owned in the Reno area since 2001. That sale brought in $279,000.
Gianoli said that Marich's crime dealt a serious blow to the First National Bank of Ely, but that depositors were protected and the 104-year-old institution was never at risk of failure.
"No customers have suffered any financial damage as a result of this. Everyone's been made whole. No one's lost a nickel," he said.
The bank had to pay customers back "out of our own pocket," Gianoli said, but "we've basically weathered the storm."
Even if Marich is ordered to pay restitution, his former boss doesn't expect the bank to get much of its money back.
"You can't get blood from a stone," Gianoli said.
Review-Journal writer Brian Haynes contributed to this report. Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
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Holdharmless, sure I'm ignorant and along with you and all the other taxpayers we get to pay for this miscreants misdeeds. 3.9 million, I'm sure she new nothing of any of this, lol.
JR,
You IGNORANT individual! So often, than not, family members, especially loved ones, are very much held harmless...partly because we are praying that 'something' isn't wrong, but 'ethically' we KNOW we MUST keep our eyes open and turn over any and all information to protect our namesake. May you never experience the agony of having a loved one involved in a criminal activity...I would NOT wish that on my worst enemy.
If you ever had the privilege of meeting the ex-wife of the charged individual, you would not be making such an uneducated and unsubstantiated comment. SF--you have so many TRUE people behind you and your precious family--KNOW that!
He should get the max to set an example. This smacks of preferential treatment. Now that they have a convenient divorce to protect their assets, it reads like she's in on it. I'm sure all of those transactions done in November and December was meant to help pay restitution, yeah right! She should be FIRED!
GARY1959, the bank got their money back....it's called FDIC! As to your opinion that this encourages other sticky-fingered people to help themselves........all I can say is that facing 30 years in prison certainly does not sound like an enticement to me.
So is this a case of a politician turning into a crook, or a crook that turned into a politician? Shocking, just totally shocking. . .
Gary 1959, reguarding your comment on "open season for bank employees", it has been open season for a long time. While many bank employees may not have been helping therelves personally, they sure helped their emoloyers, just look at all of the residentiaal loans to non qualified buyers and the number/rate of repos. To Jee.Buss, reguarding your comment, I doubt even the amount of missing money. 3.7 million, would be equal to a 20 year firefrauder's(I like that name) total take in the same time period.
Is this guy related to Desai ????
Wow... all I can say is wow.. and there wasn't a car in that for me.. kicking a can with my head hanging down sadly.. lol
Seems like everyone involved thinks this is not a big deal.
While this is definitely a big crime it pales in comparison to what Goldman Sachs and the "too big to fail"s have done. The Federal Reserve prints money out of nowhere to cover these losses. We all pay with a loss of the value of our money. It isn't like Federal Reserve notes are a finite resource. Just print more no one really suffers too much from this heist. But we all suffer from the schemes of Goldman and Bernanke. Goldman robs us in an insidious fashion and they get record bonuses.