Rochester Man Arrested And Charged With Stealing Almost $1,000,000 From Brother

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:           (716) 843-5817
FAX:                 (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Mark Saile, 57, of Rochester, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with mail and wire fraud, and identity theft, in connection with a scheme in which the defendant allegedly defrauded his brother of almost $1,000,000. The mail and fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a fine of $250,000, and the identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant’s brother, Robert Saile, who resides in Redmond, Washington, worked for Microsoft, Inc. for a number of years. Robert Saile set up a 401(K) retirement account with Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, comprised of Microsoft stock and Fidelity money market funds.

Between July 26, 2012 and June 20, 2014, Mark Saile contacted Fidelity numerous times pretending to be his brother. During those contacts, the defendant was able to trick Fidelity into transferring approximately $960,000 from Robert Saile’s 401(k) retirement account to a bank account his name. Robert Saile was unaware that his brother was stealing money from his retirement account. The defendant also changed the email and mailing addresses on file at Fidelity so that all correspondence from Fidelity would be sent to him.

Mark Saile made and initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson. The defendant is due back in court on February 2, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.

The criminal complaint is the culmination of an joint investigation on the part of the United States Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge, Boston Division, United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, under the direction of Shantelle Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Scott Crosier.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.