Former ANB Financial Banker, Customer Plead Guilty to Bribery
by August 1, 2012 11:12 am 252 views
A $60,000 bribe paid during a trip to Las Vegas led to guilty pleas Monday by former Fayetteville banker William B. Hemm and his client, Christopher Lee Talley of Memphis, according to Conner Eldridge, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Hemm, 33, a former loan officer for defunct ANB Financial of Bentonville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a bank officer and misapplication of bank funds. In addition to accepting the bribe, he admitted misapplying $82,500 out of the loan proceeds to Talley’s Memphis Sports Management to pay for the rental of the private jet that took the men to Las Vegas, where the bribe was paid.
Talley, 41, who formerly lived in northwest Arkansas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a bank officer.
The two men, who are named in separate civil cases filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., waived their right to a grand jury indictment and agreed to plead guilty to charges, called informations, filed directly by federal prosecutors.
According to Eldridge, Hemm faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine for misapplication of banks funds. Both men face up to five years in prison and $250,000 fines for the bribery counts.
Eldridge’s announcement didn’t tell the exact date of the bribe. In a civil case filed in June 2011 against ANB’s insurer, the FDIC’s alleges that Hemm was “dishonestly and fraudulently” making loans to a customer matching Talley’s description during 2006 and 2007. ANB Financial was shut down by the FDIC in May 2008.
The FDIC filed that civil case in hopes of forcing St. Paul Mercury Insurance Co. to pay the bank’s losses caused by Hemm under the terms of a bond that covered dishonest or fraudulent acts by employees. A jury trial in that case is scheduled for Nov. 26 in Fort Smith before U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III.
The FDIC received a default judgment two weeks ago against Talley and other defendants in a civil case filed in November over a $4.25 million loan from ANB that went into default.