Ex-Banker Gets 30 Months for $125K Fraud

Former Santander Bank employee Carlos Bras, 41, of East Providence, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for stealing more than $125,000 from a 78-year-old customer with dementia. Bras pleaded guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and was ordered to pay $126,000 in restitution, serve three years of supervised release, and pay a $200 assessment. Beginning in 2023, he used his access to the customer’s account to arrange online banking, send checks to addresses he controlled, obtain a debit card for personal use, and make unauthorized transfers, including wire transfers to a bank account in Portugal. Investigators also found a purported Portuguese real estate contract bearing both men’s signatures; the customer’s conservator said the customer did not know about the transaction and that the signature and address were not his.