Patrick Pinto, a former vice president at Oxford Collection Agency, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to two years of probation for bribing an executive at U.S. Bank. Pinto also must pay a $10,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.
Pinto pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiring to commit bank bribery. He faced a maximum imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
Oxford Collection Agency was a private financial services company, that mostly engaged in debt collections, and had offices in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. Between 2007 and 2011, Oxford executives took part in a scheme to defraud its lender, Connecticut-based Webster Bank, as well as its investors, consumer clients and commercial debtor clients. ??Oxfords victims lost more than $12 million as a result of this scheme. ??An earlier investigation revealed that Oxford sometimes obtained and retained business with its banking clients by paying bribes and kickbacks to bank officials. As part of the scheme, Pinto, a vice president at the firm, and other
Oxford executives made monthly payments of between $2,500 and $3,500 that were hidden in cigar boxes, to an assistant vice president of U.S. Bank in Ohio.??U.S. Bank and Webster Bank received funds through the U.S. Department of the Treasury Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).??
In May 2012, Richard Pinto, Patrick's father and former chairman of the board at Oxford, and son, Peter Pinto, Oxfords former president and CEO,
Richard Pinto in January was
In December 2012, Oxford Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Randall Silver, Executive Vice President Charles Harris and Chief Operations Officer Carlos Novelli also
Those defendants, and Peter Pinto, await sentencing.
In February, Wilbur Tate III, a former assistant vice president of U.S. Bank in Ohio, was
