A former South Florida personal banker worked in concert with scammers in a seven-figure wire fraud scheme that targeted unsuspecting people, prosecutors allege.
Officials claimed Ana Dalila Vega was aware she was being investigated and had booked a one-way trip to Nicaragua on Thursday. On Thursday, federal authorities detained her and took her to the Broward County Jail.
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Vega, 33, of Hollywood, is currently facing a bank fraud conspiracy allegation in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed by a special agent with the US Secret Service, Vega worked at Citibank from October 2017 to January 2024.
Authorities said that in 2023, Vega began speaking with a man she met in her apartment building who “sold drugs” and knew she worked at Citibank, and he recruited her to assist with fraudulent bank activity. He is referred to in the complaint as “Co-Conspirator 1.”
Vega, according to police, “admitted that she agreed to help Co-Conspirator 1 by unblocking certain Citibank accounts, adding authorized signers to Citibank accounts, and transferring funds between accounts.”
According to the complaint, when she asked him why he was sending people to her to unblock the accounts and transfer money, he said, “The less you know, the better.”
According to authorities, in March 2023, Vega facilitated an illicit wire transfer of $60,000 from a customer’s account to an account named “GETTHEBREAD LLC.”
According to investigators, Vega committed to help unblock accounts, add unlawful signers, and process transactions for anyone referred to her by the co-conspirator throughout 2023. She later claimed that she knew the money did not belong to the people who accessed the accounts and that she had been paid several thousand dollars in cash.
Authorities stated that in December 2023, she conspired with a second co-conspirator to defraud a customer of $1.3 million through various transactions.
According to the complaint, Vega’s statements to law enforcement came after interviews in November and on February 11, during which she “initially denied engaging in any fraudulent activity and denied knowing Co-Conspirator 1,” but then “admitted to her criminal conduct” after being “confronted with evidence of her involvement.”
In the Feb. 11 interview, agents claimed Vega informed investigators that Co-Conspirator 1 gave her a news release from the US Department of Justice about a Miami bank fraud arrest for conduct similar to what they were doing and “advised her to be careful.”
According to the complaint, the US Department of Homeland Security informed agents that on February 17, Vega “booked a one-way ticket to Nicaragua” that would depart on Thursday with no return journey scheduled.
Agents said they called Vega on Monday to see if she could meet with them on Thursday or Friday. They claimed Vega informed them she couldn’t because “she was having problems with her car” and asked if they could meet the next week, when she “‘hop(ed)’ to have her car back from the dealership.”
According to the complaint, she “made no mention of her plans to travel to Nicaragua.”
Instead of waking up in Nicaragua on Friday morning, Vega found herself in jail and was slated to appear in federal court.
According to online records, she was scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge at 11 a.m., but court records were not updated until about 1 p.m. According to a Washington, D.C., legal firm, bank fraud can result in a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail and a $1 million fine.
According to records, Vega was being held at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
