Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Lynn
M. Bowden, 62, of Bucksport, Maine, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to embezzlement and
false tax return charges.
According to court documents, Bowden was hired by Merrill Merchants Bank (“Merrill")
in May 2004. Chittenden Corporation acquired Merrill in 2007. Merrill continued to operate as
a separate unit of Chittenden Corporation until People’s United Bank acquired Chittenden
Corporation in 2008. Bowden maintained her employment through these acquisitions and was
working as a wealth management officer for People’s United Bank when her fraudulent conduct
was discovered in October 2012. The bank terminated her employment on Oct. 26, 2012.
Before she was fired, Bowden managed over 200 trust and investment management accounts.
During the period April 4, 2005, to Sept. 26, 2012, Bowden made 108 deposits and
transfers of customer funds into her personal accounts for a total of $2,990,429.65. All of the
funds came from wealth management accounts that she managed as a wealth management
officer. She used all of the money for herself and for members of her family. Bowden failed to
report to the Internal Revenue Service that she had received this income and that caused a tax
loss of over $750,000 for the period 2007 to 2011.
Bowden faces a sentence of up to 30 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to twice the
gain or loss on the embezzlement charge and up to five years in prison and a fine of up to
$250,000 on the false tax return charges. She will be sentenced after the completion of a
presentence investigation report by the United States Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal
Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
