Posted by Shaiban Almarri.
Wilmington Trust Corp. has agreed to pay $60 million to the government after facing charges relating to the bailout program of the federal bank. This agreement incorporates a civil forfeiture of $16 million and $44 million that the bank had paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission in an earlier but similar lawsuit. The court postponed the anticipated trial until March after the acting U.S. Attorney David Weiss said his office had agreed to dismiss the case against the bank.
Mr. Weiss said the bank had accepted the responsibility of its actions despite having refused to admit liability. Meanwhile, the bank’s parent company M&T Bank asserted that it was in the bank’s best interest to resolve the matter.
Wilmington Trust had been accused of dishonesty regarding its “…deteriorating commercial real estate portfolio from investors, bank regulators, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.” Consequently, some members of its former top management will be answering charges of conspiracy and fraud. Meanwhile, a number of the bank’s employees have already pleaded guilty while a section of them have even been sentenced.
A government affidavit referenced in the court revealed how a top official fraudulently got money from Wilmington Trust to be used for personal activities. Furthermore, the bank failed to explain why it used to “waive” mature loans that had been specified as current for interest, a practice that was later found to have hidden around $333 from the previous due loans.
Shaiban is an MS Accounting student at Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
Work Cited
“Wilmington Trust Reaches $60M Settlement with Prosecutors.” CNBC. Np. 2017. Web. 17 Oct. 2017.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/10/the-associated-press-wilmington-trust-reaches-60m-settlement-with-prosecutors.html