Former Bank Vice President Sentenced for Embezzling

BOSTON – A former vice president of Lenox National Bank was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Springfield for embezzling more than $150,000 from the bank.    

Joseph E. Leskovitz, 53, of Lenox, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 22 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $154,783 in restitution.  In July 2016, he pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement of bank funds and one count of money laundering. 

Between approximately 2009 and February 2014, Leskovitz was the vice president of Lenox National Bank, which was acquired in 2015 by Adams Community Bank.  Leskovitz stole money from certificates of deposits he was entrusted to manage for family members and clients.  In addition, Leskovitz opened a loan in the name of a family member without the family member’s knowledge and stole the loan proceeds.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Goodwin of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.