Bernanke’s Identity Stolen During Financial Crisis

As if a crumbling financial structure wasn’t enough to deal with, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had to tend to a disturbance in his personal finances—a sophisticated ring of thieves made off with his identity last summer.

On August 7, 2008, Bernanke’s wife Anna had her purse, containing the couple’s joint checking account book, snatched off the back of a chair at a Starbuck’s near the U.S. Capitol. She reported the theft that day. But that didn’t stop the thieves from cashing checks on the Bernanke family’s account.

Now remember back to those days of late summer and early fall. The signs were growing ever more ominous for the U.S. financial system. Needless to say, Bernanke was a busy guy right about then, and one who certainly didn’t need the headache of someone running around cashing his checks.

In fact, the Fed chairman suffered no losses because he had alerted Wachovia after the theft of his wife’s purse.

But it wasn’t just ordinary crooks who stole Bernanke’s identity, Newsweek reports. It was a sophisticated national ring the feds and police in several states had been tracking for months. And one of them is alleged to have written a $900 check on the Bernankes’ account.

The Fed chairman is in pretty good company when it comes to having his identity stolen. According to CreditBloggers, Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Michael Jordan, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have all had their identities stolen at one time or another.