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$11M scam to hit Webster’s 1Q earnings

The president of an ATM management company has been charged with defrauding Waterbury-based Webster Bank out of at least $11 million — a loss Webster plans to charge against first-quarter earnings.

Federal prosecutors in New York City say 64-year-old Robert Egan of Bedford Corners, N.Y., president of Mount Vernon Money Centers, was charged Feb. 8 with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He is free on a $10 million bond.

Prosecutors say Egan’s company, based in Mount Vernon, N.Y., had a deal to restock about 160 of Webster’s nearly 500 automatic teller machines. Authorities say Egan’s company put in new “canisters” of money and kept money left in the old ones.

Authorities say Egan acknowledged stealing from Waterbury-based Webster in a recorded conversation.

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Egan’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a message Thursday. A man who answered Egan’s home phone said he wasn’t there.

Webster declined to comment on the story.

Webster initially disclosed the episode, without naming Egan or his company, in a terse press release on Feb. 2.

The bank claimed it may have been exposed to as much as $11 million in losses but that it would seek to recover the losses against Egan’s insurance coverage.

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Webster said in a regulatory filing this week that it will take an $11 million charge to first-quarter earnings while it pursues recovery.

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