Former Texas bank president sentenced to 8 years for embezzling $11M, burning incriminating records

A former Texas bank president was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Tuesday for embezzling millions of dollars and burning the incriminating records to cover her tracks, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas.

Anita Gail Moody, 57, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and arson in June after forging loans over a nine-year span, which resulted in the loss of $11 million to Enloe State Bank in Cooper, Texas, prosecutors said.

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On May 11, 2019, Moody set fire to the bank's boardroom, one day before the bank happened to be scheduled for a review by the Texas Department of Banking, according to prosecutors.

Investigators later discovered that "several files had been purposefully stacked on the boardroom table, all of which were burned in the fire."

According to court documents, the destroyed files were false nominee loans in the names of several people, including bank customers, which were created by Moody.

The former bank executive admitted to setting the fire in order to cover her tracks for falsely obtaining more than 11 million dollars to fund "her boyfriend’s business, other businesses of friends, and her own lifestyle," court records show.

The scheme began back in 2012.

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“Criminal conduct that affects the financial health of a small, local lender can send a negative ripple effect throughout the entire community,” said United States Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said in a statement.

As part of her guilty plea, Moody also agreed to pay over $11 million in restitution.

Jeannie Swaim, who served as vice president of Enloe State Bank at the time, was also involved "in fraudulent conduct" and was sentenced to two years in prison, prosecutors said.

Swaim also agreed to pay over $410,000 in restitution.