Just a week after the New York City Council passed an ordinance nearly prohibiting all credit background checks in the city, we picked up two New York Post stories of insider employment theft from two small businesses.  While the stories do not say whether the employers conducted credit background checks of the alleged thieves, it is most likely that checking the credit of the employees noted in the stories would likely be banned by city law.

In the first case, “[a] receptionist at a Manhattan dental office stole confidential information from hundreds of patient’s and teamed up with a​ former Apple employee to open fraudulent credit lines and buy hundreds of thousands in ​Apple ​gift cards. . .Annie Vuong, 27, allegedly copied the confidential records of over 250 patients, including their dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers and emailed the pilfered data to her cohort​,​ former Apple salesman Devin Bazile, 30, court records show.”  Rebecca Rosenberg, Dentist-receptionist stole patient info to buy $700k in Apple gift cards, N.Y. Post, Feb. 5, 2015, available at http://nypost.com/2015/02/05/dentist-receptionist-stole-patient-info-to-buy-700k-in-apple-gift-cards/.

In the second case, “[t]he manager of a Brooklyn office-cleaning company opened four credit card accounts in her boss’ name so she could go on a $65,000 shopping spree where she bought high-end shoes, a Gucci wallet and trips to tanning and nail salons, according to court papers and sources.  Eye-shadow-loving Annie Lee, 32, opened Chase and Capital One cards using the personal info of her boss, Anchor Building Maintenance Corp. CEO Nick Mirakay, court papers state.”  Josh Saul, Maid manager takes boss to cleaners with $65,000 shopping spree, N.Y Post, Dec. 11, 2014, available at http://nypost.com/2014/12/11/maid-manager-takes-boss-to-cleaners-with-65k-shopping-spree/.