Columbia University Is Hit With $4.5 Million Bank Fraud .

A Bronx man allegedly modified a Columbia University bank account to embezzle millions from the school, DNAInfo reports.
In a criminal complaint, George Castro is alleged to have been “familiar with the university's accounts payable system.”
The school claims he added an unauthorized account to the school's electronic payment system, into which he funnelled more than $4.5 million.
Not according to him. He has no idea how the funds found their way into his account.
Whatever happened, after Columbia realized a new account had been added to its system, they reported it to police, who then arrested Castro at his Bronx residence.
From the NY Post,  Castor allegedly modified a university account and added a TD Bank account to it as a payee, DA investigators said. The TD Bank account received over $3.4 million in funds from Columbia University accounts in October and $1 million in November. The money was then withdrawn in cash from the new account.
Castro says the funds simply appeared in his account.
Not helping his trustworthiness: Investigators found $200,000 in cash in a bag at the home, and also seized an Audi worth over $80,000, which was parked out front.
He is being held on $2 million bail.
A 48-year-old Bronx man has been arrested and charged with grand larceny for allegedly stealing nearly $4.5 million from Columbia University over the course of two months, authorities said Monday.




George Castro is accused of adding a TD Bank account belonging to him as a payee in the Columbia University Medical Center's accounts payable system, netting payments of $3.4 million in October and $1 million in November, authorities said. Mr. Castro, whose relationship with the university is unclear, was arrested Wednesday.



A law-enforcement official familiar with the case said Mr. Castro had $200,000 in cash in his possession when he was arrested and had withdrawn $140,000 the day before his arrest. According to a criminal complaint, Mr. Castro told investigators the money "just appeared" in his bank account and that he had gotten "greedy."



He allegedly admitted to buying an $80,000 Audi with the money, along with other undisclosed purchases, the complaint stated. The Audi, which was parked in front of his Admiral Lane residence in the Clason Point section of the Bronx, was seized by authorities.



Mr. Castro was arraigned on charges of grand larceny in the first degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree and was being held at the Manhattan Detention Center on $2 million bail, authorities said.



David Fisher, an attorney representing Mr. Castro, said he expects his client to be "vindicated when all the facts come out." He declined to comment on Mr. Castro's alleged statements to authorities during his arrest and wouldn't say what Mr. Castro does for a living, except to say he is not an employee of Columbia University.



Douglas Levy, a spokesman for the university's medical center, said the institution is working "with law enforcement authorities and we cannot comment further."



According to the criminal complaint, the scheme was discovered early last week when an employee of the university familiar with the accounts-payable system noticed a massive irregularity. On Oct. 4, an existing payable account was modified to add a TD Bank account as the payee, the complaint said. The name on the TD Bank account was "IT Security Solutions LLC" and belonged to Mr. Castro, according to the complaint.



Officials with TD Bank told investigators that $4.4 million had been paid from Columbia University to that account in October and November and that some of the money had been transferred to accounts at other banks, including Capital One Bank, the complaint states.



The external fraud department at Capital One Bank told investigators those destination accounts were named to IT Security Solutions or Mr. Castro, the complaint states.



It was unclear Monday how the money was diverted from Columbia to Mr. Castro's accounts. The law-enforcement official said investigators were "still piecing together how [Mr. Castro] got the money wired to his accounts."



The law-enforcement official said Mr. Castro has two previous arrests for criminal possession of a weapon in 1991 and promoting prison contraband in 1992. New York State Department of Corrections records show he served almost two years in prison on a conspiracy charge.



Public records show that starting in August 2002 through October 2010, Mr. Castro was listed as the chairman and chief executive officer of Ryan Daelyn Technology Corp. A phone number listed for the company was not in service Monday