Coyote TV - High Desert Advocate

  

          Law enforcement has been called in to investigate embezzling charges at the First National Bank of Ely, confidential sources confirmed to the High Desert Advocate, Tuesday.
    According to sources the investigation is in its very preliminary phase and it is not known if police have even have visited the bank.
    The probe appears to center around the Bank’s Chief Cashier and Ely City Councilman Stephen Marich.
    Bank President John Gianoli confirmed that Marich was the subject of an internal investigation Monday and also confirmed that the Ely City Councilman was no longer employed at the bank.
    According to its website the First National Bank of Ely (FNB Ely) was chartered in 1907, opening its doors for business on February 23, 1907 with capital stock of $50,000.  The Bank now has over $60 million in assets.
    Rumors that its Chief cashier had allegedly embezzled ripped through Ely like wild fire and a mini-run on the bank by nervous depositors was quickly quelled by Gianola.
    “We are completely insured,” Gianola said in a telephone interview. “No one should have any loss of confidence in this institution.
    FNB is a member of the FDIC.
    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S.. Financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.
    An independent agency of the federal government, the FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.
    The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations – it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S. Treasury securities. With an insurance fund totaling more than $17.3 billion, the FDIC insures more than $4 trillion of deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts - deposits in virtually every bank and thrift in the country.
    Savings, checking and other deposit accounts, when combined, are generally insured to $250,000 per depositor in each bank or thrift the FDIC insures. The standard insurance amount of $250,000 per depositor is in effect through December 31, 2013. On January 1, 2014, the standard insurance amount will return to $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except IRAs and other certain retirement accounts, which will remain at $250,000 per depositor. Deposits held in different categories of ownership – such as single or joint accounts – may be separately insured.
    But while confidence in the bank is assured confidence is Marich is at an all time low. A scion of an old and respected Ely family, Marich was active in local politics and social activities.
    An Ely City Councilman Marich also played a role in the ethic board’s removal of then Mayor George Chachas and the attempted removal of White Pine County Clerk Donna Bath.
    Marich was one of the signatories to an ethics complaint against Bath over the 2006 election.
    In the primary election for Mayor George Chachas garnered just over 50 percent of the vote. According to city ordinance and practice Chachas should have been declared the winner of the contest and that no runoff would be held in June’s municipal balloting. Instead however of declaring victory the Ely City council voted to ask the Nevada State Attorney General office its opinion on whether or not Chachas was the winner.
    The council based its decision on what it called an apparent conflict between two city ordinances regarding the 50 percent rule.
    Bath then formally warned the Ely City Council to abide by its own rules regarding the election and characterized the current  controversy as loophole that threatened the integrity of the democratic process.
        In two letters to the council Bath made it abundantly clear her repugnance at any attempt to find a loophole in the law and clearer still her intention to fight any such effort.
    The council retaliated at the public tongue lashing by filing an ethics charge widely seen as a smear campaign.
    Bath was later vindicated by the state’s Ethic’s Board which found that Bath did not only act properly but also fulfilled her duties to the letter and the spirit of the law.
    In the words of the report:
    There is no credible evidence that suggests Ms. Bath acted outside of her job duties as the
White Pine County Clerk.  Ms. Bath appears to have acted in good faith and for the
Public benefit.  There is no evidentiary basis in support of the Commission further
Investigating the allegations...
    The Executive Director hereby recommends the panel find that no just and sufficient
Cause exists for the Commission to hold a hearing and render an opinion on the
Allegations that Ms. Bath violated NRS 281.481(1).  It is further recommended that this
Complaint be dismissed.
    During the original hearing Marich back tracked from the complaint and suggested that he did read or understand the complaint.
    The High Desert Advocate could not confirm rumors that Marich had left town after being confronted with evidence of the embezzlement however as the husband of assistant US Attorney Sue Fahami  who lives in Reno it would not be unusual for the Ely City Councilman to leave town to be with his wife over the holidays. In fact if there is a full fledged investigation in the offing seeking out on of the most powerful prosecuting attorneys in the state who also happens to be his wife my be perfectly understandable.