Photo Courtesy of Google
Stephens-Anselm worked at this Chase branch in Hollis.
By Forum Staff
A former JP Morgan Chase employee will spend six months in prison after he bilked the estate of two deceased Queens sisters for more than $650,000.
Joshua Stephens-Anselm, 28, of Beach 24th Street in Far Rockaway pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gia Morris.
In addition to his sentence, Stephens-Anselm was ordered to fulfill the confession of judgement he signed during his plea, which indicated his obligation to repay $662,465 in stolen funds.
“The defendant used his position as a trusted bank employee for personal gain. He heartlessly stole money from the personal bank accounts of two deceased elderly women and used the funds to pay personal expenses such as rent, credit card bills for friends and outings at restaurants and bars.”
From June 2016 to July 2017, the defendant swindled money from the estates of Edith Thompson, who died in December 2013, and her sister Marjorie Thompson, who passed away in November 2014. Prior to their death, the women opened banked accounts at JP Morgan Chase, where the defendant worked as a private client banker. Shortly after their death, an appointed estate administrator contacted JP Morgan Chase to determine the whereabouts of large sums of moneytransferred from the sisters’ accounts. Upon further investigation, itwas determined that Stephens-Anselm issued checks to his personal account totaling $590,000 from MarjorieThompson’s estate and an additional $70,000 from EdithThompson’s estate.
To readily access the money, the defendant set up a mobile pay app on his phone to make electronic payments.
The stolen funds were eventually reimbursed to the women’s accounts by JP Morgan Chase.
