A former Wells Fargo banker faces charges of fraud, identity theft, money laundering and other crimes for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from customer accounts, according to an federal indictment unsealed on Thursday. Ricardo Benavente III, 27, who worked at a Wells Fargo branch in Chula Vista, California, diverted nearly $750,000 from customers' accounts into bank accounts he controlled at Washington Mutual Bank (now part of JPMorgan Chase Bank) between April and October 2009, the indictment states. The purported victims who are mentioned in the indictment were residents of Mexico at the time. One was serving time in a Mexican prison. Benavente tried to hide his scheme by creating bogus withdrawal slips and cashier's checks and by funneling some of the stolen funds through a Paypal account he opened in the name of one of the victims, the indictment states. Benavente was charged with 16 counts of "concealment" money laundering pursuant to Title 18, US Code,
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