DS News - Digital Archives

Three Arrested for Bank Fraud Related to Park Avenue Failure for bank fraud connected to the fall of Park Avenue Bank in 2010, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Trouble Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced. Wilbur Anthony Huff, Matthew L. Morris, and Allen Reichman were taken into custody for their alleged roles in the collapse of the Manhattan bank. Shortly after the FDIC announced Park Three men were arrested October 1 Avenue Bank's failure, the Department of Justice announced that bank president and CEO Charles Antonucci had been arrested on allegations of self-dealing, bank bribery, embezzlement of bank funds, and fraud, among other charges. Antonucci was the first defendant ever charged with attempting to defraud TARP. "Nearly two years ago, we secured the a federal court in Manhattan, while Huff made his appearance in Louisville, Kentucky. The case's first conference was scheduled for October 10. In a statement, Bharara reaffirmed Reichman and Morris appeared before his office's commitment to pursuing and convicting perpetrators of fraud. "As alleged, Wilbur Anthony Huff was a vortex of fraud who also evaded over $50 million in taxes owed to the IRS and, along with Matthew Morris and Allen Reichman, plundered the assets of an insurance company, leading to its business failure," Bharara said. "We will not tolerate fraud or those who steal from taxpayers for their own personal gain." New York AG Announces $7.8M Settlement for Inflated Appraisals first conviction against a defendant, Park Avenue Bank president and CEO Charles Antonucci, for attempting to steal $11 million from the taxpayer-funded TARP," said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Today's indictment charging two of Antonucci's alleged co- conspirators represents 'Part Two' in our ongoing investigation into the misconduct at the bank that ultimately led to its collapse." According to the allegations in an indictment unsealed in a Manhattan federal court, Huff is a businessman who concealed his control of several companies throughout the United States, using them to orchestrate fraud schemes. Park Avenue Bank and its executives—including Morris and Reichman—played a part in one of Huff's schemes, the indictment says. Huff, Morris, and Antonucci are accused T. Schneiderman announced a $7.8 million settlement on September 28 with eAppraiseIT and its parent corporation, CoreLogic, formerly known as First American Corporation. The settlement was in regards to New York Attorney General Eric Charles Ramos of the New York Supreme Court, witnesses presented by Schneiderman included appraisers who testified that they stopped getting WaMu eAppraiseIT assignments because they didn't provide the higher values WaMu loan officers expected. One email from a former WaMu sales office employee presented at trial said, "The appraisal list that eAppraiseIT is using has been totally scrubbed. But instead of keeping good appraisers, they went for the bad ones." The settlement requires defendants to pay $4 million in civil penalties and $3.8 million in costs, fees, and disbursements incurred from the litigation. CMBS Delinquency Rate Slips Below 10%, Trepp Reports allegations that eAppraiseIT, a former appraisal management company (AMC) and First American subsidiary, violated appraiser independence laws by conspiring with Washington Mutual (WaMu) to inflate home values. "Coercion of appraisers to inflate securities (CMBS) delinquencies have posted substantial declines over the past two months, according to Trepp, a New York-based research and analytics firm. After falling 21 basis points in August, delinquencies decreased another 14 basis points in September, bringing the delinquency rate below 10 percent, just barely. The CMBS delinquency rate is now 9.99 Commercial mortgage-backed in the indictment of defrauding bank regulators by funneling $6.5 million of the bank's own money through accounts to make it look like the bank was being infused with new capital. By making the bank appear stable, the men hoped to put the institution in a better position to receive $11 million in TARP funds. The 13-count indictment goes on to accuse Huff and Morris of conspiracy to commit bank bribery, bank and insurance fraud, and theft of $2.3 million from a publicly traded company. Reichman stands accused of the group's insurance fraud scheme that left Providence P&C, an Oklahoma-based insurance company, in receivership. 98 home values and the erosion of appraisal independence directly contributed to the housing crisis. By giving in to lender pressure, these corporations violated a principle that is vital to restoring and maintaining a healthy housing market," said Schneiderman. According to a statement from the percent, according to Trepp, and the agency predicts the rate should continue to decline over the next few months. "First, we see no reason for the volume of loans being resolved each month to drop," Trepp stated in its report. The firm continues to detect interest in distressed real estate while borrowing costs remain low. In September, $1.77 billion in loans were resolved with losses, up from $1.5 billion in August. Also contributing to Trepp's prediction attorney general's office, eAppraiseIT performed more than 260,000 appraisals nationally for WaMu, and from early 2006 through late 2007 the AMC conducted some 10,000 appraisals for the lender in New York. The AG's complaint alleges WaMu pressured eAppraiseIT to allow WaMu's loan officers to select their own property appraisers, a violation of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and federal and state law. This practice led to inflated property valuations, and allowed homes to close at higher values. During a trial in June before Justice of a continuing decline in the CMBS delinquency rate is the resurgence in new CMBS issuances over the past few months. "[T]he new loans should dilute the bad legacy loans that still exist," Trepp stated. The serious delinquency rate—the percentage of loans 60 or more days delinquent, in foreclosure, REO, or nonperforming balloons—was 9.43 percent after a 14 basis point decline during the month of September. Among the five categories of CMBS, multifamily properties are experiencing the highest delinquency rate at 14.09 percent, despite an 81 basis point decline in September. Industrial properties posted

• Cover