Nashville banker arrested, charged with financially exploiting two elderly customers

A four-month investigation led to Karl Richardson’s arrest on Tuesday afternoon.

The man allegedly stole more than $60,000 from one customer and more than $70,000 from another.

By Tony Garcia

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A 39-year-old man is facing serious charges after fraud detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department tied him to years of financial theft involving two of his elderly customers.

The report from MNPD states that fraud unit detectives were contacted by Bank of America about one of its employees, Karl Richardson, in early February 2026, after the bank noticed some irregular withdrawals.

From July to November in 2025, Richardson had allegedly made 19 counter withdrawals from a 75-year-old woman’s account, often involving the woman herself requesting money but not receiving the full amount.

Detectives also found 11 instances where Richardson made unauthorized ATM withdrawals from the same woman’s account.

In all, he’s accused of stealing $68,400 from the woman over those four months in 2025.

During this investigation, the fraud unit was alerted to another elderly customer related to Richardson. This 86-year-old woman had reportedly been targeted by Richardson over the course of four years, according to Adult Protection Services.

Once fraud detectives dove into these allegations, they uncovered more than 100 unauthorized ATM, in-branch withdrawals, debit card use and Zelle transfers totaling nearly $71,000.

These transactions occurred from April 2022 to April 2026.

Richardson eventually left Bank of America in November 2025, but allegedly continued to make unauthorized withdrawals from the woman’s accounts. MNPD reported that he stole $4,500 from January to April of this year.

This woman even followed him to his new employer, Simmons Bank in Bellevue, where he convinced her to open a new account at his branch. MNPD reported that the woman’s son closed this account before any fraudulent activity could occur.

Detectives arrested Richardson at Simmons Bank on Tuesday. He was booked on two counts of financial exploitation of an elderly adult, two counts of computer fraud, two counts of felony theft, two counts of identity theft, and two counts of credit card fraud.

His bond is set at $370,000.

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Nashville banker arrested, charged with financially exploiting two elderly customers