Former cashier gets 78 months in prison for embezzlement

When an Ely city councilman embezzled millions of dollars from Nevada's oldest bank, he was not victimizing a "faceless corporation," a witness said Wednesday.

"He stole from an honest, hometown bank," Katie Gianoli testified in Las Vegas.

The witness, an employee at First National Bank of Ely, fought back tears as she described how the embezzlement affected her father, bank President John Gianoli, and others in the small community.

She called the crime "personal and life-altering."

Bank officials discovered in December 2009 that Stephen Marich, a cashier at the bank who was in his third term on the Ely City Council, had been stealing money from a Treasury bill account to fuel his gambling habit.

When they confronted him, he "ran like a coward," John Gianoli said.

Marich resigned from the City Council a month later. In February of this year, the 43-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank employee.

U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson heard testimony from three bank representatives Wednesday before sentencing Marich, the former husband of a federal prosecutor, Sudabeh Fahami, to 78 months in prison.

FBI agents investigated the case and determined that Marich acted alone. Fahami is deputy chief in charge of the U.S. attorney's office in Reno.

The U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento handled the embezzlement prosecution because of Fahami's position in Nevada.

Marich admitted stealing at least $3.7 million from First National Bank of Ely, but an audit revealed that the amount was closer to $5.9 million.

Dawson ordered Marich to pay the larger amount as restitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Segal said the paper records fail to convey "the intimacy of this crime."

"This wasn't some Wall Street bank," the prosecutor said. "These weren't strangers."

Katie Gianoli said she fears her father will never forgive himself for trusting Marich, whom he considered a friend, and putting the family business in jeopardy.

John Gianoli said Marich received a six-figure salary and annual bonuses while working as a cashier at the bank, which was founded in 1907.

Marich had embezzled from the bank for 12 years, the president said.

"We spent countless hours and untold stress unwinding this mess," John Gianoli said.

He described the experience as "hellish" and "gut-wrenching" and said it has caused him to question his ability to evaluate "the quality of people."

John Gianoli said his family has been involved with the bank since 1936, when his father began working there.

His father, Albert, died in 1993. His mother, Barbara, is chairwoman of the board.

"A great deal of our business is predicated on trust and loyalty," the bank president said.

Ely is about 250 miles north of Las Vegas and has a population of about 4,300.

Bank officials decided to pay back their customers after discovering the embezzlement "because it was the right thing to do," John Gianoli said.

He also said the crime led him to fire Marich's mother, a longtime employee.

At the hearing, Marich apologized to the bank's owners, employees and customers. The father of four also apologized to his friends and family.

"I am the sole person responsible," he said.

Marich, who transferred stolen funds to online gambling enterprises located overseas, described himself as a "proud man who has hit rock bottom" and "an addict who needs help."

Dawson rejected a defense request to reduce Marich's prison sentence because of his "long-standing compulsive gambling disorder."

The judge said Marich had enough self-control to pass up his own funds and use the bank's instead.

"When the losses are in the millions, the sentence has to be significant," Dawson said.

The judge said Marich would have caused less emotional harm and received less money if he had committed an armed bank robbery.

"Sometimes money is more than just money," Dawson added.

Sometimes it represents a "lifetime of sacrifice by forebears" who went without to provide better lives for their offspring, he said.

Marich has until July 11 to surrender to prison. With credit for good behavior, he could knock about a year off his sentence.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.