A Maricopa County jury has found a financial advisor, Steven Watson, guilty of stealing proceeds from dormant bank accounts that were specified to go to family members of a deceased account holder, the Salvation Army, and the Red Cross.
Wilson was found guilty on one count of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices and seven counts of Theft.
Watson was an associate financial advisor in 2014 at a bank and developed a plan to steal money from customer accounts that were dormant. The accounts were dormant due to inactivity or the beneficiary did not claim the money on the accounts.
Wen one of the beneficiaries, the Salvation Army, requested disbursement of the money that was to be distributed to the organization upon the death of the account owner, the bank began an investigation.
Investigators found that Watson represented to the bank tellers that he had the authority to request cashier checks from the account. Watson received approximately $169,528.23 in stolen proceeds from three accounts between October 21, 2014, and November 14, 2014. The cashier checks were issued to another individual or in the name of a fictitious business Watson created. By the end of January 2015, Watson spent all of the stolen money on vehicles, vacations, adult entertainment, and child support.
A sentencing hearing for Watson is scheduled for November 9, 2018.