Christopher Canale, a former employee of Pershing, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he embezzled $7.1 million, which he used to pay for gambling debts and buy an outdoor pool, luxury cars and a gun safe. The accounts payable manager was arrested in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he resides. Pershing, the BNY Mellon clearing firm, was not identified by name in the complaint.

Upon discovering Canale’s conduct in September 2016, the bank “immediately terminated his employment and notified law enforcement of the fraud against our company."

According to the complaint,…  beginning in December 2013, Canale authorized $2.53 million in wire transfers to companies and people who were not pre-approved vendors. In September, an employee conducting an audit of the vendor account noticed unusual wire transfers Canale had authorized to the individual, and discovered he had been making unauthorized wire transfers for years.

• During an interview with an in-house lawyer at Pershing and several other employees, Canale admitted he had wired out $2 million to $4 million to pay for personal debts and to "save his life because of a gambling addiction."
• He also admitted he wired funds to offshore entities and individuals in exchange for watches and jewelry, which he used to pay for his gambling debts.
• He further admitted to having used money to pay for personal credit card bills and to buy an outdoor sound system, 2 Mercedes cars, a pool, a gun safe and landscaping services, the complaint said.