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Ely First National Bank President John Gianoli broke more than a years said Wednesday that his bank would probably never recover all of the money it reimbursed customers from the thefts of former chief cashier Steve Marich.
“A lot of people are under the impression that the money Mr. Marich stole was covered by the FDIC,” Gianoli said. “That isn’t true. Most of the money taken was from T bills he duped people into buying. Our insurance paid some of it but that was only later. We took the decision to pay off all his thefts even though legally we didn’t have to. But it was the moral thing to do.”
The Ex-Ely city Councilman was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and ordered to pay $5.9 million in restitution the first National bank of Ely in Federal court last Wednesday.
According to the plea document, prosecutors could only document that $3.7 million had been stolen from the bank, however the plea bargain suggest that Marich might have pilfered as much as $5.6 million in the 15 years he worked at the bank rising from cashier to Vice President. According to court documents, Marich used his job as chief cashier 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.
U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson ordered Marich to pay the larger amount as restitution.
Dawson rejected a defense request to reduce Marich’s prison sentence because of his “long-standing compulsive gambling disorder.” The judge said Marich had enough self-control to pass up his own funds and use the bank’s instead.
