By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A former employee of JPMorgan Chase is accused of stealing more than $1.1 million from the bank and its customers.
Hao "Howie" Wang, 28, who worked at the JPMorgan Chase branch on 270 Park Avenue, was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Monday after using someone else’s personal information to obtain a $100,000 loan and setting up fake accounts to steal hundreds of thousands from the bank's clients, according to the district attorney's office. He was ordered held without bail.
Wang was arrested at Newark Airport on November 17 and extradited to New York on Monday for his arraignment, according to a statement by the district attorney. He was charged with 28 counts of grand larceny and identify theft.
"HAO WANG used his position as a banker to raid the accounts of customers who entrusted their money to this financial institution," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in the statement.
"The defendant had access to confidential files and financial information, and used it to steal money, as well as the identities of four individuals."
Prosecutors accused Wang of using peoples’ personal financial information to transfer money into fake accounts and, in one case, apply for a loan without the victim’s knowledge.
The first alleged fraud occurred in February 2008, when Wang used someone else’s personal information to obtain a $100,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase, according to the DA. Wang spent $10,000 of the loan money and transferred the remaining $90,000 to a foreign bank account, the DA claimed.
Wang is also accused of setting up a fake account during June 2008 using the information of a JPMorgan client, and then transferring $250,000 of the client’s money into the fraudulent account. Again the bulk of the money was transferred to a foreign account, though $46,000 was spent on a high-end wrist watch, the DA said.
Finally, in February 2009, Wang, along with unnamed and uncharged accomplices, used the personal information of two JPMorgan customers to transfer $139,536 and $700,000 from their accounts into his own accounts outside the country, prosecutors said.
The most serious of the charges Wang faces, Grand Larceny in the First Degree, is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
