LEXINGTON, Ky. — The former Vice-President for Fifth Third Bank in Lexington, Ky. pleaded guilty today to embezzling $195, 324 from the bank, before United States District Court Judge Jennifer B. Coffman.

Cynthia Kay Wright, 40, of Lexington, Ky., waived her right to be indicted by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty to an Information charging bank embezzlement.

In the course of her guilty plea, Wright admitted that during 2005 and 2006, while working as a Vice-President and as the Regional Operations Manager, she embezzled the funds by manipulating the bank’s general ledger accounts and other accounts, which enabled her to issue bank checks on multiple occasions that she cashed.

Wright also wrongfully received loans from the bank by misrepresenting the purposes of the loans to the bank’s retail regional managers. Wright used the funds that she defrauded from the bank for gambling on an internet website

Amul R. Thapar, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Tracy A. Reinhold, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), jointly made the announcement today after Wright entered her guilty plea.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The United States was represented in the case by Assistant United States Attorney John Patrick Grant.

Wright is currently scheduled for sentencing in United States District Court in Lexington, Ky., on July 27, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. Wright faces a maximum of 30 years in prison. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence.