Former CEO of Failed Washington Bank Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail

The former chairman and chief executive of the failed Summit Bank in Burlington, Wash., has been sentenced to three years in prison for concealing millions of dollars in past-due loans.

James Bishop and his son, bank president James Bishop 2nd, covered up Summit's mounting losses in quarterly reports to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. between 2009 and 2011, according to a Friday press release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bank was closed by state regulators and sold to Columbia Bank in Tacoma, Wash. , in May 2011.

"This defendant falsified reports to save 'his' bank and his fortune," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said in the release. "Rather than be up front with the regulators about the condition of the bank, the defendant and his son initiated a high-stakes shell game to deceive the FDIC. Through his actions he shifted the risk for losses to the FDIC and consequently to the public."

Bishop pleaded guilty in August and was sentenced Friday in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington. He will also pay a fine of $300,000 to the FDIC and submit to a lifetime ban from banking as part of a plea agreement. His son is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 6.