Va. banker at Wachovia gets 7 years for $14M fraud

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former account manager at Wachovia Bank has been sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing more than $14 million from her clients' accounts to fund a lifestyle that included a luxury motor home, a helicopter and a menagerie of animals including two zebras.

The term for 42-year-old Linda Tribby of Lovettsville, Va., was slightly less than the 8 to 10 years sought by federal prosecutors in Alexandria.

According to court documents, Tribby told some of her clients she could set up special accounts that would provide tax-free interest. In reality, those accounts never existed and Tribby took the money. She created phony account statements to cover up her theft and even sent periodic interest payments back to her clients.

Wachovia is reimbursing the clients for the lost funds.