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Bank sued over elderly woman’s loss
YOUNGSTOWN
A 79-year-old Canfield woman has sued J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and Linda Kovachik of Boardman, saying the bank failed to investigate or notify law enforcement after being advised of suspicious activity, and thereby negligently failed to halt the reported theft by Kovachik of the Canfield woman’s assets.
The victim’s loss eventually exceeded $150,000, according to the complaint filed this week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and assigned to Judge Maureen A. Sweeney.
Atty. Corey J. Grimm of Boardman filed the complaint, which seeks at least $150,000 in damages and requests a jury trial, on behalf of the Canfield woman, who, the suit says, has diminished mental capacity.
Neither Kovachik, nor a bank spokesman, could be reached to comment.
Kovachik, 69, who was once an aide to U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., is free on $35,000 bond after having been charged with theft in a criminal case arising from the 79-year-old’s loss.
On Oct. 1, 2013, Kovachik, of Flagler Lane, obtained financial power of attorney over the Canfield woman, who, the suit said, was unable to handle her finances.
The 79-year-old had multiple accounts with J.P. Morgan Chase and a safe-deposit box at the bank’s Canfield branch.
In December 2013, Kovachik and the Canfield woman entered that branch and visited the safe-deposit box, with Kovachik seeking to cash between $20,000 and $30,000 in U.S. savings bonds, according to the complaint.
A private client banker confronted Kovachik and the Canfield woman and told the Canfield woman she should get a bank loan instead of cashing in the bonds, the lawsuit said.
The private client banker then alerted the bank’s corporate security department, reporting that she believed Kovachik was taking advantage of the Canfield woman, the complaint said.
Thereafter, the private banker reported seeing Kovachik enter the bank alone to make withdrawals from an account held by the Canfield woman and remove items from the safe-deposit box, the suit said.
“Kovachik was permitted to make withdrawals, write herself checks and otherwise defraud and deprive plaintiff out of both money and personal property,” the suit said.
The Canfield woman didn’t discover the theft of her money, jewelry and savings bonds until March 2016, when the criminal probe began, the suit said.