A former Santander Bank employee was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for taking $126,000 from the account of a 78-year-old man with dementia, in a case that exposed how easily a trusted bank insider could exploit an elderly customer's vulnerability. Bras was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay a $200 special assessment, and make full restitution to the victim.
Carlos Bras worked as a relationship manager at Santander's Seekonk, Massachusetts branch, a role that gave him authorized access to sensitive customer data and let him impersonate the victim in communications with the bank, according to Fox Business. The victim lived in an assisted living facility in Milton. A fabricated real estate contract in Portugal was intended to make it appear that the victim was buying land from Bras's wife, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
How the Scheme Unfolded Inside the Branch
Per WJAR, prosecutors say Bras ordered checks and obtained a debit card for his own use after accessing the victim's account, and investigators say the victim's PIN was changed during the scheme. A new debit card and fraudulently ordered checks were then sent to his home, per investigators.
Prosecutors say Bras transferred tens of thousands of dollars from the victim's account into his wife's account in April 2023, then used $16,000 of the stolen funds to buy a Kia and spent thousands more at area retail stores. He also wired tens of thousands of dollars to accounts in Portugal that same month, with those wire transfers made from the Seekonk Santander branch using his own employee credentials, according to authorities.
Caught on Camera, Then Confronted
When a Santander investigator later questioned him, Bras claimed he had made the wire transfers while the account holder was physically with him at the bank, according to court documents. But surveillance video from July 2023 showed the alleged victim was not in the bank at the time, the documents state. The Santander investigator contacted Seekonk police the following month, setting off a joint investigation by the Seekonk Police Department and the United States Secret Service Boston Field Office, which ultimately built the federal case.
Charles C. Calenda said Bras exploited his position at a financial institution and took advantage of an elderly man who could not protect himself. Calenda said the sentence reflects the seriousness of the betrayal and the commitment to safeguarding vulnerable community members.
From Complaint to Guilty Plea
Federal prosecutors initially charged Bras by criminal complaint in October 2025 with wire fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, according to the Department of Justice. He later agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Under federal statutes, mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison, while aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory, consecutive two-year prison term — though Bras ultimately received 30 months. WJAR's NBC 10 I-Team first reported the allegations against Bras in October 2025.
Separately, Bras was charged with domestic assault by strangulation by East Providence police in May 2024, a charge that was later dismissed in 2025 after he pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, according to the same report.
A Pattern Seen Across New England and Beyond
The case fits into a broader surge in elder financial exploitation flagged by federal regulators. The FBI's Boston Division, which covers Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire, reported $134.9 million in total elder fraud losses across the region in 2024, with Massachusetts victims alone losing nearly $99.8 million and Rhode Island victims losing $6.3 million, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Nationally, adults aged 60 and older reported nearly $4.9 billion lost to fraud in 2024 across more than 147,000 complaints, with an average loss of $83,000 per victim, according to AARP citing FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center data. U.S. financial institutions submitted 155,415 suspicious activity reports tied to elder financial exploitation between June 2022 and June 2023, representing more than $27 billion in flagged transactions, per the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
