Fired Tulsa banker committed fraud to pay his bookie nearly $200,000, feds say

A former Tulsa banking executive siphoned nearly $200,000 from his employer to pay off gambling debts, federal prosecutors say.

Blake Brian Ferguson, 36, was named Tuesday in a four-count criminal information that alleges he paid his gambling debts by committing a variety of fraudulent activities while employed at Firstar Bank N.A., where he was senior vice president.

One of the counts alleges that Ferguson caused an $81,000 check to be drawn on a Firstar customer’s account and made payable to Ferguson’s bookie to be presented to another bank.

The charging document, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, states that beginning in about 2008 or 2009 Ferguson engaged in gambling activities, which escalated around 2013 “and caused him to accumulate substantial amounts of gambling debt.”

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/fired-tulsa-banker-committed-fraud-to-pay-his-bookie-nearly/article_0e155992-fdbf-556e-954d-5c3dafcae98a.html