Robin Katz, the financial analyst at Chase Bank who was arrested for siphoning over $100,000 from a client, may have used a fake ATM card to perpetrate her alleged crime. As a NY criminal defense attorney at Saland Law PC who has had tremendous results representing clients in white collar crimes and as a former Manhattan prosecutor who spent years assigned to the Identity Theft Major Case Unit, it is clear that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. While that is not an assertion that more allegations will be made against Ms. Katz, it is likely that law enforcement has not released to the public or discovered all of the ways in which this crime was allegedly perpetrated.
A review of the charges against Ms. Katz reveals that she is currently charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree as well as Identity Theft in the First Degree. However, if the facts come out as the media has portrayed, I expect that Ms. Katz could be charged with additional crimes. For example, if the ATM card has been recovered or there is evidence that she wrongfully created it, she could be charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree for physically having it or Forgery in the Second for creating it. Additionally, if she altered Chase records or deleted records to cover up her alleged theft, then prosecutors could charge Ms. Katz with Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree as well. Although Grand Larceny in the Second Degree is the most serious of the offenses and punishable by up to fifteen years in state prison, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument and Forgery in the Second Degrees are punishable by up to seven years in prison while Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree is punishable by up to four years in prison. Regardless of the amount of time she faces, I expect that her time in Rikers and $50,000 bail has made it overwhelmingly clear that any jail time is devastating.
Without knowing all the facts of the case it is difficult to assert what her best defense to these crimes is. Is it trying to mitigate what happened or is there a way to challenge the facts? Whatever the defense, Ms. Katz has a long road ahead of her. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will certainly not be feeling overly generous with a woman who allegedly perpetrated a crime over a period of months and created an ATM card to do so. However, with an experienced and knowledgeable white collar criminal defense attorney at her side she may one day be able to sit back in her apartment (not a jail cell) recognizing that it could have been much worse.