Tennessee bank executive admits to stealing $600,000 from her employers because she believed she ‘wasn’t getting paid enough’
- Connie Clabo admitted to embezzling more than $600,000 from SmarkBank
- She pleaded guilty to embezzlement and filing false tax records on Tuesday
- The theft occurred between 2013 and 2018 when Clabo worked as a vice president of loan operations at SmartBank in Knoxville, Tennessee
- In one instance, Clabo reduced her parents’ mortgage from $46,000 to $398.18
- She paid off her home mortgage that was more than $200,000, records show
- Plea agreements shows that Clabo funded 60 cashier’s checks totaling $357K
- She used that money to pay off credit card bills and auto loan payments; she also purchased a 2018 Salem 282RK travel trailer
- Clabo will be sentenced in April 2020 and faces a maximum of 30 years in prison
A SmartBank executive has admitted to embezzling $600,000 from her employers because she ‘wasn’t getting paid enough’.
Connie Sue Clabo, who worked as a vice president of loan operations from 2013 to 2018 at SmartBank, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and filing false tax records in the US District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee.
According to the plea agreement filed on Tuesday, Clabo claimed she stole the money because she believed she was insufficiently paid for her hard work.
SmartBank (file image) executive, Connie Sue Clabo, of Tennessee, allegedly embezzled $600K from the bank and told authorities that she believed she was insufficiently paid for her hard work
The document states that Clabo used her position to ‘steal, embezzle, misapply and conceal’ the misuse of more than $600,000, according to 10 News.
Investigators said Clabo ‘admitted that she believed that SmartBank was insufficiently compensating for all of her hard work for the bank and that she deserved more compensation from SmartBank’.
‘According to the defendant, she decided to solve her dissatisfaction with her compensation from her employer by stealing and misapplying SmarkBank’s funds, moneys and credits,’ the plea agreement reads.
In one instance, Clabo reduced her parents’ mortgage from $46,000 to $398.18.
She also paid off her own home mortgage that was more than $200,000, court documents show.
The plea agreements shows that Clabo also funded 60 cashier’s checks totaling more than $357,000.
Clabo faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the theft involving SmartBank (file image) and a maximum of three years for filing false tax records. Clabo will be sentenced in April 2020
She used that money to pay off credit card bills and auto loan payments. She also purchased a 2018 Salem 282RK travel trailer.
Authorities said Clabo also didn’t report the extra money from her thefts to the IRS.
In 2017, Clabo reported making $127,720 when she actually made more because of the embezzlement.
She faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for theft and a maximum of three years for filing false tax records.
Clabo will be sentenced in April 2020.