Watch this space: at 1pm ET on Monday, Tarp overlord Neil Barofsky will discuss the arrest of one Charles J Antonucci Sr, the former president and chief executive of the (failed) Park Avenue Bank in New York.
The FDIC closed the bank on March 12.
According to the criminal complaint against Antonucci:
the defendant unlawfully, willfully and knowingly, did make false entries in books, reports, and statements of an insured bank with intent to defraud such bank, and individual persons, and to deceive officers of such bank, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation…
He’s also accused of “falsely representing that [he] had invested $6.5m of his own funds to provide additional capital to the Bank, when in truth and in fact, [he] devised an elaborate round-trip loan transaction so that the purported $6.5m investment was actually made with the Bank’s own funds.”
Moreover:
Antonucci made material false statements, and caused material false statements to be made, in connection with The Park Avenue Bank’s application for an $11,252,480 investment from the Capital Purchase Program of the [Tarp].
The, erm, issues with Antonucci’s bank pre-date the allegations in the complaint. For instance, in February 2009, the New York State Banking Department and FDIC jointly issued a cease and desist order to the bank, under which:
The Park Avenue Bank is required to take immediate action to correct apparent violations of Federal laws and regulations and other deficiencies discovered during a joint examination conducted by the Banking Department and the FDIC, and to take all necessary steps to prevent unsafe or unsound banking practices through the establishment and adoption of policies, procedures, and processes that address weaknesses found in the bank’s internal controls, independent testing, strategic planning, loan practices and compliance.
The regulators issued the order after conducting an examination into the bank in June 2008. Among the violations they found were:
(b) operating with management whose policies and practices are detrimental to the Bank and jeopardize the safety of its deposits;
(c) operating with inadequate capital in relation to the kind and quality of assets held by the Bank;
(e) operating without a current, comprehensive written business/strategic plan;
(f) operating with inadequate liquidity and funds management;
(j) operating with excessive concentrations of brokered deposits, commercial real estate and construction loans;
(k) operating with inadequate internal routine and controls and inadequate credit administration and loan underwriting;
As at pixel time, Charles Stillman, Antonucci’s attorney, was not available to comment.
UPDATE: At 16:15 ET Mr Stillman returned FT Alphaville’s call. Here’s what he said:
These charges have been made – they are nothing more than that. We are studying them, and have no comment at this time.
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