Sisters Returned to U.S. to Face Theft Charges

Two San Fernando Valley sisters who fled to the Philippines after allegedly embezzling $898,000 from First Interstate Bank were arrested Wednesday after being returned to the United States, authorities said.

Marissa Puno, 31, of Lake View Terrace, and Edna Pantig, 33, of Van Nuys, both Philippine-born naturalized U.S. citizens, were deported by authorities in their homeland Tuesday and were arrested by FBI agents after they had arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Maurice A. Leiter. Authorities don’t know what happened to about two-thirds of the missing money.

Leiter said the sisters, who were ordered held without bail after their arraignment Wednesday, had fled from Los Angeles in late 1986. He said Puno is charged with one count of embezzlement of bank funds and Pantig is charged with aiding and abetting in the scheme.

Criminal complaints were filed in 1987 against the women, Leiter said. According to the complaints, Puno began the scheme at First Interstate Bank’s downtown headquarters in 1985 when she became acting supervisor of an account used for the transfer of money to or from other banks to cover the purchase or sale of securities.

According to the complaint, Puno requested an unauthorized wire transfer of $1,014,000 from the Bank of New York in July, 1985. During the next year, Puno made 28 transfers totaling $898,000 from the account to her sister, Leiter said.

Pantig allegedly transferred $600,000 of the money to bank accounts outside the United States, Leiter said. He said the sisters spent some of the money on travel to Europe and the purchase of a $41,000 Mercedes-Benz and gave some to a relative.

In late 1986, Puno resigned from the bank and the two sisters fled to the Philippines, authorities said. The embezzlement from the transfer account was discovered afterward.

“Puno’s job had been to balance that account,” Leiter said. “The account was not double-checked until she was gone.”

After the criminal complaints were filed, the State Department revoked the sisters’ passports, making their stay in their homeland illegal, Leiter said. They were arrested on Aug. 12 by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation.

So far, none of the $600,000 transferred out of the country has been recovered, Leiter said.

“We don’t know what happened to it,” he said.