Veep robbed Citigroup blind

Veep robbed Citigroup blind
$22M netted cars, homes
By MITCHEL MADDUX

Last Updated: 4:00 AM, September 7, 2011

Posted: 3:42 AM, September 7, 2011

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Eye for money: Former Citigroup executive Gary Foster, who is legally blind, pleaded guilty yesterday to embezzling $22 million from the banking behemoth which he used to buy expensive cars like a BMW and a posh New Jersey home.
A legally blind, exCitigroup exec yesterday copped to embezzling more than $22 million from the New York banking giant and splurging on posh pads with gold-leaf ceilings -- and fancy cars he couldn’t even see well enough to drive.

Disgraced business honcho Gary Foster, 35, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to bank- fraud charges. He faces up to 10 years in prison as part of a plea deal.

While his impaired sight prevented him from sitting behind the steering wheel, Foster didn’t let that stop him from shelling out hundreds of thousands for a Ferrari, a Maserati GranTurismo and a BMW 550i, authorities said.

He simply hired a personal chauffeur with more of the swiped dough, sources said.

The US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn has already seized $16 million in the top-of-the-line cars and other property, including Foster’s showcase digs in Rockefeller Center, ritzy apartment in Brooklyn and mansion in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

The former Citigroup vice president also could be fined as much as $44 million, said Assistant US Attorney Michael Yaeger.

The 12-year Citigroup veteran quit the bank in January and then was arrested earlier this summer at Kennedy Airport as he was getting off a flight from Bangkok.

Before leaving his post in Citigroup’s treasury-finance offices in Queens, Foster earned $100,000 annually managing its internal investments.

Foster’s embezzlement scheme began in September 2003 and continued into 2011, feds said.

Foster admitted he had wired the swiped money from internal Citi accounts into his personal bank account and wrote e-mails and sent faxes to order the transfers.

Prosecutors say he covered up the scam by assigning phony contract or deal numbers to make the transfers appear bona fide.
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