On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Hoodline reported that a former Ameris Bank employee from Stone Mountain has been indicted on federal charges, accused of selling customers’ account information in exchange for a bribe that enabled the theft of more than $930,000.
Mercedes Henry, 35, worked as a universal banker at several Ameris Bank branches in the Atlanta area. A federal grand jury indicted her on charges of bank fraud, access device fraud, and bribery. She was arrested and appeared in federal court in Atlanta, according to charging documents.
Prosecutors allege that between September and November 2021, Henry used her position to obtain sensitive identifying information tied to six Ameris Bank customer accounts. They say co-conspirators then used that information to connect the accounts to Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange.
According to the indictment, about $931,500 in unauthorized transfers flowed from the victims’ bank accounts into Coinbase accounts controlled by those co-conspirators. Prosecutors say Henry received just over $1,000 for providing the information.
Coinbase’s user agreement states that the platform relies on customers’ bank account and routing numbers to initiate Automated Clearing House transfers, which allow users to buy digital assets with bank funds. Prosecutors say that same process was used to move money out of the Ameris accounts once the information was supplied.
Theodore S. Hertzberg, whose office in the Northern District of Georgia presented the charges, said Henry allegedly stole sensitive information to facilitate nearly $1 million in fraudulent transfers from victims’ accounts to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by her co-conspirators. He said law enforcement will work with private-sector partners to identify, arrest, and prosecute those involved in such schemes.
FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said federal authorities are using specialized tools to uncover what she described as “crimes of greed and opportunity” committed by financial insiders. FBI Atlanta is involved in the investigation.
If convicted, Henry faces significant penalties. Bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344 carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million per count. Access device fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1029 carries maximum sentences of 10 to 15 years per count, depending on the nature of the offense.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 215, bank employees who corruptly solicit or accept something of value exceeding $1,000 in connection with bank business face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million or three times the value of the bribe.
The case is not the first involving insider fraud prosecuted by federal authorities in northern Georgia. Kayricka Wortham, a former metro Atlanta resident, was sentenced in 2023 to 16 years in federal prison for a $9.4 million scheme that exploited vendor payment systems while she worked at Amazon. An additional year was added to her sentence in 2026 for forging a judge’s signature.
Ameris Bank, the victim institution, is a state-chartered bank headquartered in Atlanta. As of mid-2026, Ameris Bancorp reported roughly $28.5 billion in total assets and 163 full-service retail locations across five southeastern states.
The case comes as cryptocurrency-linked fraud continues to rise nationally. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that cyber-enabled fraud losses exceeded $20 billion in 2025. Cryptocurrency-related complaints accounted for more than $11 billion of that total across 181,565 reported incidents.
An indictment is an allegation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Source: Hoodline
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