Former Bank President, Loan Officer Indicted

   ATLANTA – 3/21/2011 – An indictment unsealed on March 21 charges two former top officers of FirstCity Bank of Stockbridge, Ga., Mark A. Conner, 44, formerly of Canton, Ga., and Clayton A. Coe, 44, of McDonough, Ga., with a variety of offenses including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud in connection with misconduct at FirstCity Bank in the years before the bank’s seizure by state and federal authorities on March 20, 2009.
   In addition to the conspiracy and bank fraud charges, the indictment charges Conner with conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise at the bank between February 2006 and February 2008, during which Conner’s and his co-conspirators’ crimes allegedly generated over $5 million in unlawful gross proceeds.
   A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned the sealed indictment against Conner and Coe on March 16, 2011.  Conner was arrested on the charges and taken into custody by federal agents at Miami International Airport yesterday morning, the two-year anniversary of FirstCity Bank’s failure, upon his arrival in Miami from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies. Conner made his initial appearance today before a federal magistrate judge in Miami, who ordered Conner to be detained as a flight risk pending his transfer by Deputy U.S. Marshals from Miami to Atlanta for trial. A formal detention hearing will take place in Miami on Thursday, March 24, 2011, at 1:30 p.m. Coe’s initial appearance on the indictment in the Northern District of Georgia has not yet been scheduled.
   “The entire country has felt the deep economic impact of failed banks. At the heart of this indictment is an abuse of power by key insiders, who are charged with tricking their own colleagues into approving millions of dollars in commercial loans to fund the defendants’ own personal business activities, and to enrich themselves at the bank’s expense,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Along the way, these defendants also allegedly defrauded state and federal bank regulators and examiners, and at least ten other federally-insured banks in Florida and Georgia that invested in the fraudulent multi-million dollar loans.”
   Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Reginael McDaniel said of the case, “Honest and law abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money.  Those individuals who engage in this type of financial fraud should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable.”
   According to the charges and other information presented in court: Conner served in a variety of top positions at FirstCity Bank between 2004 and 2009, including as vice chairman of the board of directors, as a member of the banks’s loan committee, as president, and later as acting chairman and chief executive officer.
   Coe served as a vice president and as FirstCity Bank’s senior commercial loan officer.  While serving in these positions, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly conspired to defraud FirstCity Bank’s loan committee and board of directors into approving multiple multi-million dollar commercial loans to borrowers who, unbeknownst to FirstCity Bank, were actually purchasing property owned by Conner or Coe personally. 
   The indictment charges that Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators misrepresented the essential nature, terms and underlying purpose of the loans and falsified documents and information presented to the loan committee and the Board of Directors.  Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators then allegedly caused at least 10 other federally-insured banks to invest in, or “participate in” the fraudulent loans based on these and other fraudulent misrepresentations, shifting all or part of the risk of default to the other banks.  Coe’s bonus compensation was tied to the origination of FirstCity Bank loans, including the fraudulent loans with which he and Conner allegedly assisted each other.
   In the process of defrauding FirstCity Bank and the “participating” banks, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly routinely misled federal and state bank regulators and examiners to conceal their unlawful scheme.  They also unsuccessfully sought federal government assistance through TARP and engaged in other misconduct in an attempt to avoid seizure by regulators and prevent the discovery of their fraud.
   The charge against Conner for conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a potential fine of up to $10 million.  The conspiracy and bank fraud charges against Conner and Coe, and a remaining charge against Coe for fraudulently influencing the actions of a federally-insured bank, carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a potential fine of up to $1 million on each count.  In determining the actual sentences for each defendant, the Court will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
   “Today’s indictment marks yet another occasion where bank executives are alleged to have turned to criminal fraud in the midst of the financial crisis, including an attempt to obtain millions of dollars from the American taxpayer through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),” said Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). “SIGTARP will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring those who engage in such crimes to justice.”
   Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government's burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
   This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the FDIC, Office of Inspector General; the Office of the SIGTARP; the FBI; and the IRS – Criminal Investigation.
   Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas W. Gilfillan and David M. Chaiken are prosecuting the case.
   Source: U.S. Department of Justice release.