Two former officers of a failed Georgia bank have been indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges, the Justice Department said in a release Monday.
Mark A. Conner and Clayton A. Coe were charged with a variety of offenses including conspiracy and bank fraud related to alleged misconduct at FirstCity Bank in the years before its failure in 2009, the department said.
Conner was also charged with conducting a continuing financial-crimes enterprise at the bank for two years, which the department claims generated more than $5 million in unlawful gross proceeds.
A message seeking contact details for the men's legal representatives wasn't immediately returned.
In its release, the Justice Department claimed Conner, Coe and others sought to have FirstCity Bank's loan committee and board approve multiple multi-million dollar commercial loans to borrowers who were actually purchasing property owned by Conner or Coe personally. It alleged that the defendants misled federal and state bank regulators, falsified documents to the loan committee and board, and caused at least 10 other banks to invest in fraudulent loans.
Conner was arrested Sunday at Miami International Airport after arriving there from the Turks and Caicos Islands. A federal magistrate judge in Miami Monday ordered he be detailed as a flight risk pending his transfer to Atlanta for trial.
Conner could face 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 for the charge of conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise. The conspiracy and bank-fraud charges against both and a remaining charge against Coe for fraudulently influencing the actions of a federally insured bank could carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a potential fine of up to $1 million on each count.
Coe's initial appearance on the indictment hasn't been scheduled.
