A former TD Bank executive in Maine accused of spending nearly $220,000 of the bank’s money at strip clubs pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of theft by a bank officer.
Jeffrey Burnham, 41, of Arundel, used his TD Bank corporate credit card 72 times at strip clubs in Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Florida from Feb. 18, 2011, to Feb. 16, 2012, according to court records.
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Burnham had not yet been indicted in the case against him but waived his right in a hearing in U.S. District Court to have the case first presented to a grand jury.
Burnham faces a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. He is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge George Singal on Sept. 15.
Burnham, who was a vice president and regional mortgage sales manager at the bank’s Falmouth office at the time of the alleged offenses, remains free on a $5,000 unsecured bond, with conditions that he surrender his passport, give a DNA sample and submit to supervision by the federal Probation and Pretrial Services Office.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff, has refused to say how Burnham spent $220,000 at strip clubs over a one-year period. Details of the specific expenses that Burnham charged to his corporate TD Bank credit card are not disclosed in court records, including an affidavit filed by FBI Agent Paul Pritchard seeking the felony charge.
Burnham left TD Bank in February 2012, after about 14 years with the company and its predecessor, Peoples Heritage Bank. He went on to work for Kennebunk Savings Bank as senior vice president overseeing the bank’s retail banking operations, but left in November 2013.
“Burnham justified these expenses by falsely claiming they were for business-related purposes, including conferences, meals with employees or clients and membership dues. TD Bank then paid these expenses using bank funds,” Pritchard said in an affidavit filed with the court.
Burnham used his corporate card to charge $10,088 on Dec. 2, 2011, at a business he listed on his expenses as “La Grange Boston MA,” which operates the Centerfolds strip club in Boston.
After Burnham left TD Bank, an employee opened his corporate credit card statement and noticed two “suspicious” charges, one to “La Grange Boston MA” and another to “Kenkev II, Inc. Portland ME,” which operates PT’s Show Club in Portland, according to Pritchard’s affidavit.
The FBI learned that Burnham charged about $35,000 to his corporate credit card in less than a month from January to February 2012 at Centerfolds and PT’s Show Club, Pritchard wrote.
Burnham admitted in a written statement to TD Bank’s internal investigators in June 2012 that he used the corporate card for personal expenses, Pritchard wrote.
Federal agents interviewed Burnham at the Portland FBI office on March 27, 2013, when he admitted again that he used the corporate card for personal expenses and certified in writing that his written confession to the bank was accurate, the affidavit says.
A TD Bank spokeswoman, Lauren Moyer, has said the bank will not comment on the case against Burnham.
Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:
Twitter: @scottddolan
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