JPMorgan Clerk Hid Stolen Checks in Socks

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

Pop quiz: What goes in socks?

(a) feet

(b) oranges

(c) $4 million in stolen checks

(No fair looking at the headline for a hint, either.)

Take your time; this is a tricky one. ?Feet? seems obvious because, well, duh. Those who answered (b) are obviously fans of Stephen Frears?s The Grifters. And then there are those who picked the ?$4 million in stolen checks? option. Clearly, you guys work at J.P. Morgan, and have been lifting tips from your co-worker, Gregory Halley.

Halley, a 38-year-old mailroom clerk ? scratch that, former mailroom clerk, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for his little ?checks down the sock? scheme. He was arrested on April 21, 2006, as he was leaving a shift with the aforementioned $4 million in checks. However, in Halley?s short career as a bank fraudster, he was able to lighten J.P. Morgan?s load by more than $100 million.

U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia explained the scheme in a Reuters story: In sorting the mail, Halley would periodically hide as many as several dozen checks ? generally worth at least $50,000 each ? in his clothing; socks, for instance, unless it was a Don Johnson day and then he?d have to find other items to double as caches (which it?s probably best not to think too long or too hard about). He would then give the checks to co-conspirators in exchange for cash payments.

Three other people have been charged in connection with the theft of checks from the JPMorgan facility. Halley will be sentenced next year.