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Former Federal Reserve Bank IT worker charged with ID theft

Updated Monday, April 27, 2009 at 3:29 p.m. EST

Two brothers, one a former IT analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, have been charged with committing identity theft to obtain fraudulent loans.

Curtis Wiltshire, 34, of Staten Island, N.Y., previously worked as an IT analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he had access to employee personal information, including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and photographs of bank employees.

Wiltshire allegedly used the identities of two individuals without permission to apply for two different student loans, totaling $73,000, the according to a Department of Justice news release and a criminal complaint.

A bank investigator found a removable storage device, connected to Wiltshire's computer, which contained the loan applications, the image of a student loan check for $36,000 payable to one of the victims, and a fraudulent Maryland state driver's license with a photo of a bank employee who is not the person identified on the license, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Wiltshire, 40, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who is Curtis' brother, allegedly used stolen identities to apply for a loan to purchase a boat, prosecutors said. He used a driver's license and a fake income tax return in the name of another bank employee to apply for the loan, prosecutors said in a separate criminal complaint.

When queried by SCMagazineUS.com, a N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank spokeswoman Monday declined comment, except to say, “We are aware of the case and are cooperating fully with the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Curtis Wiltshire faces three charges -- one count each of bank fraud, fraud in connection with identification document and identity theft. In convicted all three crimes he faces up to 47 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Kenneth Wiltshire faces two charges -- one count of mail fraud and another of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a 22-year sentence.

Experts said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York needs to examine its access control policies.

"Though it may be a daunting task to establish and implement consistent security initiatives across the institution, continuing to operate with insufficient policies in place will only serve to ensure something like this will happen again," Rob Grapes, chief technologist at security software firm Cloakware, told SCMagazineUS.com in an email.

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