The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Bryan Douglas Rosenquist, 42 and Michele Serrao, 44, of 613 Kentucky Street, Vacaville, California, were convicted today by a federal jury on one count of Conspiracy to Embezzle funds belonging to Bank of America in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, one count of Bank Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344, one count of Conspiracy to Money Launder in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h), numerous counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957, and several counts of Tax Evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201.  The jury also found that defendants Rosenquist and Serrao were required to forfeit $12,256,000 as a result of these crimes pursuant to Title 18, U.S.C. § 982(a)(2)(A)(Criminal Forfeiture).

During the years 1998 through August 2001, Mr. Rosenquist and Ms. Serrao were supervisors at the Loomis, Fargo and Company Facility in Richmond, California, in charge of the vault containing millions of dollars in cash.  Over the course of this three-year time period, the defendants embezzled over $12 million in cash from the vault belonging to the Bank of America to support gambling at the casinos and the purchase of thoroughbred race horses for their horse racing business "Bella Thoroughbreds", expensive vehicles, jewelry, and other items.  The defendants concealed their embezzlement from Loomis Fargo and Company and from Bank of America by creating false balance sheets which they sent to Bank of America.  In addition, while both defendants filed and paid their taxes prior to this time period, during the theft, both defendants failed to file and pay their income taxes and took a number of evasive actions, including failing to keep books and records of their business.

After a seven week jury trial before the Honorable Claudia Wilken, the jury found the defendants guilty of all counts.

The maximum statutory penalty for each violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 is five years, a fine of $250,000, three years supervised release, a $100 penalty assessment and restitution to the victim.  The maximum statutory penalty for each violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344 is 30 years, a $1,000,000 fine, five years supervised release, a $100 penalty assessment, and restitution to the victim.  The maximum statutory penalty for each violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) and 18 U.S.C. § 1957 is 10 years, a $250,000 fine, three years supervised release, a $100 penalty assessment, and restitution to the victim.  The maximum statutory penalty for each violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 is five years, a $100,000 fine, three years supervised release, a $100 penalty assessment, and restitution to the victim.  Any sentence will be controlled by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed by the Court.

The defendants will be sentenced before U. S.  District Judge Claudia Wilken on September 13, 2004, at 2:00 p.m.

The prosecution is the result of a three year investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.