[PR] Two Former SunTrust Bank Employees Plead Guilty to Financial Exploitation of an Elderly Person

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Columbia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

WASHINGTON – Rashad Liverpool, 27, and Robert Tillery, 44, pleaded guilty today of one count of Financial Exploitation of an Elderly Person or Vulnerable Adult.  The two former SunTrust Bank employees defrauded a 72-year old widow with diminished capacity of over $80,000, announced U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea.  Both defendants agreed to pay restitution as part of their plea and will be sentenced on April 28, 2020.

            According to the government’s evidence, during the summer of 2018, Liverpool and Tillery would frequently visit the victim – a client of SunTrust Bank – after normal business hours and against bank policy.  They identified funds that she held at Bank of America and took advantage of her diminished capacity in order to move these funds into accounts that they controlled.  Liverpool moved $51,900 into a joint account that he created in his and the victim’s name at Capital One Bank.  He used all of the funds for his own benefit including two trips to California and one trip to Miami.  During the trip to Miami, Liverpool used the victim’s funds to stay at a beach front hotel, rent a red Ford Mustang, and purchase items from the mini bar.  Meanwhile, Tillery withdrew $3,000 in cash from one of the victim’s accounts and wrote himself a check for $25,700 from another.  He used these funds to make purchases at various outlet stores and move to Chicago.  The scheme ended when the victim was hospitalized and a newly appointed Attorney-in-Fact discovered that the funds were missing.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Shea commended the work of the Metropolitan Police Department, specifically Detective Phillipe Moore from the Financial and Cyber Crimes Unit, as well as Investigator Jonathan Rich from the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, who investigated the case together.  He also acknowledged the work of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Mika, who is detailed from the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia to handle financial crime cases involving elderly victims; Assistant U.S. Attorney Chimnomnso Kalu; former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Romano; and Supervisory Victim Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark. 

            This prosecution is part of the Office’s wider efforts to combat crimes against seniors. In 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia simultaneously launched initiatives to address the abuse and exploitation of older adults. The Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Initiative at the U.S. Attorney’s Office expanded its response to criminal and civil violations targeting older adults. The initiative has enabled the U.S. Attorney’s Office to develop and coordinate further its prosecution of these cases and enhance its overall support of older or vulnerable victims. The team consists of experienced prosecutors and victim advocates from across the Office, to include the Superior Court, Criminal, and Civil Divisions, as well as the Victim Witness Assistance Unit. In 2019, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia also established an Elder Justice Section to better protect the District’s elders and vulnerable adults from financial exploitation through civil enforcement of the District’s financial exploitation law. This is the second outcome this month in a case involving elder financial exploitation that was handled jointly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General.