The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is one of the nation’s top banking regulators, but one of the agency’s former senior employees faces 20 years in jail for stealing confidential documents from the world’s largest banks while trying to get a job at those very same banks.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Allison Aytes was found guilty earlier this week on both counts of an indictment charging her with theft of government property in the possession of the FDIC.

Court documents show that Aytes was a senior employee in the FDIC’s Office of Complex Financial Institutions in New York until she resigned from that position in September 2015.

The FDIC’s Office of Complex Financial Institutions was created after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and charged with overseeing the orderly bankruptcy of the world’s largest financial institutions, should one of those companies fail.

As part of Dodd-Frank, each of those banks is required to file a resolution plan for the bank should it fail. Those plans are called “living wills,” which include a series of documents with confidential information about the bank, including its assets, business operations, data center locations, critical vendors, agreements with other banks and potential weaknesses or other deficiencies that pose risk during a time of financial crisis.

Aytes worked in the office that oversaw those plans and used her position to gain access to those sensitive documents, all while attempting to get a job at one of those banks.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in August 2015, Aytes used the computer in her office to review job listings and apply for jobs with banks that filed living wills with the FDIC.

Then, on Aug. 27, 2015, just one day after being contacted about a possible position with one of those banks, Aytes accessed a secure FDIC database and printed living will information for the bank in question.

Aytes then resigned her position with the FDIC on Sept. 16, 2015. A later review of her activity conducted by the FDIC showed that on her last day of work, Aytes copied a number of files from the FDIC network onto external USB drives, including living wills for several banks where Aytes had been seeking employment.

“Aytes embezzled sensitive and confidential information about banks that was the property of the United States government shortly before she resigned from the FDIC to seek job opportunities at those very same banks,” United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said.  “With today’s verdict, Aytes has been held accountable for abusing her position of trust for personal gain.” 

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Aytes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“This case makes clear that those who compromise sensitive FDIC information will be held accountable for their actions,” FDIC Inspector General Jay Lerner said. “We are committed to investigating such breaches of public trust, and to protecting the integrity of confidential data maintained by the agency.”

Article source: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/47697-who-watches-the-watchmen-former-senior-fdic-employee-found-guilty-of-stealing-confidential-bank-documents

On December 5, 2018, HousingWire opened up nominations for our 2019 HW Tech100 Award with our special early bird pricing and the unveiling of our new advisory committee.

HW Tech100 nominations are open until January 25, 2019, but the early bird special pricing ends on December 31, 2018.

And nominations have already started coming in. But along with those nominations have also come a flood of questions. We compiled the top questions below, along with the answers, to make sure you’re ready to submit the best nomination you can.

Make sure you register here before the early bird pricing ends.

I won last year, can I nominate again?

This is by far our most frequently asked question, and the answer is YES! However, we do have a few suggestions for you. We don’t want to pick your same technology that’s doing the same thing it did last year. We want to see something new. Do you have a new tech? Did you add new capabilities to the existing tech? Is it changing the market in new ways? We want to hear about it!

I didn’t win last year, can I nominate again?

Again, yes, but we have some suggestions. If you didn’t win last year it could have been for several reasons – and not necessarily because your tech isn’t the best out there. There was a lot of competition, so maybe it was close but didn’t quite make it, so try again, this might be your year! It could also be because you didn’t put much information in your nomination form. It’s hard for us to see your technology is the best if you don’t show us how. Spend more time on your nomination form – it’ll pay off!

What do you judge the winners on?

New this year, we have an external committee that advises HousingWire on the winners. These are experts from various sectors of the housing industry that use their background and expertise to decide which companies have the best tech. We also have an internal editorial board that makes the final decision on the winners. These decisions are purely editorial in context and separate from all other HW operations. And while I can’t give away the secret sauce, I can give you a quick pointer. Focus on how your tech impacts the industry. We know you love your tech – or you wouldn’t have created it! – but how does it improve the rest of the housing industry?

Does the technology have to be available to third parties?

This is a good question, as it was previously a requirement. However, this year, we did away with that, so the answer is NO. If it is tech that solves a problem, the source doesn’t matter. Third party, public, private, internal – we want to see them all!

What does the new advisory committee do?

This year, for the first time ever, nominees will be reviewed by an advisory committee, made up of some of the best minds in the housing industry. This committee will then advise HousingWire’s internal award review board of potential finalists before the winners are selected. Click here to see who is on this committee.

Have another question not on this list? Feel free to reach out to me at kramirez@housingwire.com. I’d love to answer all of your questions. And don’t forget to nominate your company for the award here.

Article source: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/47698-here-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-hw-tech100-award