BUSINESS NEWS DIGEST | Ex-banker gets prison for fraud

Ex-banker gets prison for fraud

CLEVELAND

An assistant bank manager who stole nearly $1.5 million over 14 years in Ohio by juggling accounts has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison.

Joanne Kuchna, 66, of Seven Hills was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Cleveland on her guilty plea last year to defrauding Charter One Bank.

Prosecutors say she covered up the fraud dating back to 1995 by forging customer signatures, juggling money among accounts and creating phony tax-reporting forms.

Relatives wrote to the judge asking for leniency, and Kuchna’s doctor said her lung cancer is in remission and requires monitoring.

Investors dump Treasury notes

NEW YORK

Investors sold Treasurys on Tuesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting revealed that officials considered restricting credit because of concerns about inflation.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note fell 53 cents per $100 invested in late trading. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 3.49 percent from 3.43 percent late Monday.

Minutes from the Fed’s March 15 meeting revealed some members worried that a spike in energy prices could stifle the economy and lead to inflation. Some suggested the Fed could tighten credit this year.

That could mean the Fed will raise short-term interest rates, although that strategy wasn’t mentioned in the meeting.

Diamond offers $1.5B for Pringles

NEW YORK

Diamond Foods Inc. took its biggest bite yet of the snack business with a $1.5 billion deal to buy the Pringles brand from Procter & Gamble Co.

The deal is the biggest in a stack of acquisitions for Diamond and will more than triple the size of the maker of Emerald nuts and Pop Secret popcorn.

Adding Pringles will make it a distant second in the snack business to PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay, which controls nearly half of the market.

The move also lets P&G complete its exit from all its major food businesses.

Associated Press