Dropping By to Keep His Hand In

How the Wells Fargo bandit beat the system

One thing for sure: L. Ben Lewis was conscientious. Even on vacation, the operations officer of one of four Beverly Hills branches of the Wells Fargo Bank would never let a week pass without dropping by the office for a few minutes to take care of odds and ends. It became clear last week why Lewis, 47, was so diligent. He was, according to Wells Fargo's chairman, Richard Cooley, nursing along one of the biggest bank frauds in history—a $21 million electronic rip-off that first came...

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