PORTLAND, Maine — A former TD Bank executive from Arundel told a federal judge Wednesday that he coped with stress caused by working in the cutthroat banking industry by illegally spending thousands of dollars binging on lap dances and alcohol.
U.S. District Court Judge George Z. Singal sentenced Jeffrey Burnham, 42, to 18 months in prison on Wednesday for the crime of theft by a bank officer. Burnham also was ordered to pay TD Bank back the nearly $241,000 improperly charged to his company credit card.
Burnham told Singal that his workplace anxiety pushed him over the edge into depression, left him with suicidal thoughts, and had him hearing voices and seeing visions that weren’t there.
Singal said concerns over Burnham’s apparent psychotic breaks and potential for self-harm caused him to deny a request by defense attorney Sarah Churchill that Burnham’s incarceration be delayed until Oct. 31.
The 18-month sentence was greater than the 10 months of home confinement that Churchill sought for her client, but it was less than the 27 months in prison recommended by prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Burnham — who filed false invoices with his employer, claiming the big-ticket charges were for mortgage association dues and membership fees — pleaded guilty to the theft in June.
Singal said Burnham was “making a ton of money” as a vice president for TD Bank, had a healthy upbringing and a loving family, which made the criminal behavior “beyond understanding.”
“It’s apparent to me we’re not dealing with someone who was stealing money to pay the electric bill or put food on the table,” the judge said, later adding: “These are people who live high in our world, make a lot of money in our world and have a lot of power — and often because of that power, think they can do anything they want.”
But Churchill said that her client was going to the gentlemen’s clubs — in Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Florida — as a way of dealing with the crushing pressure of working in the hypercompetitive banking industry.
Burnham told Singal he was an introvert forced to regularly fire employees who were not reaching quarterly goals, and the guilt overwhelmed him, ultimately driving him to suicidal thoughts.
“I needed a place to escape where nobody knew me and nobody expected anything of me,” an emotional Burnham told the judge. “I’m not a threat to anyone in society. I’ve cooperated with TD Bank security, the FBI and the Department of Probation pretrial services.”
Churchill said that, since last November, Burnham has been a stay-at-home father for his three children while his wife works.
“The court has to be careful not to make him a scapegoat for corporate excess,” she told Singal.
But while the judge insisted he wouldn’t hold Burnham accountable for anything more than his own crimes, Singal scolded the defendant for continuing to illegally charge strip club expenses on his employer’s credit card after he left TD Bank and got a supposedly less stressful job at Kennebunk Savings Bank — and after he knew he was being investigated for the previous illegal activities.
“I don’t believe that stress robbed you of common sense,” Singal said. “It’s almost beyond understanding that someone with a wonderful family … a person who is financially secure, involves himself not once in criminal conduct, but repeatedly over the course of a year.”
