Former Citigroup exec charged with fraud

Gary Foster, a former vice president in Citigroup Inc.'s treasury finance department, has been charged with embezzling more than $19 million from the bank in what a U.S. prosecutor called "the ultimate inside job."

Foster, 35, was arrested Sunday at Kennedy Airport after returning from Bangkok and charged with bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement Monday. Foster is accused of transferring money from various Citigroup accounts and ultimately to his own account at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"The defendant allegedly used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job," Lynch said.

Foster faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of bank fraud, according to the statement. He lives in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., the government said.

"We will undertake a serious investigation to defend our client," Isabelle A. Kirshner, one of Foster's lawyers, said in a phone interview.

Foster, who was released on an $800,000 bond, was vacationing in Bangkok and returned when he learned the government was investigating him, Kirshner said.

-- Bloomberg News