Two Maryland Men Sentenced to Prison in Bank Fraud Scheme

Two businessmen, including a former Wachovia banker, were sentenced to federal prison for a $3 million bank fraud Thursday.

Michael Anthony Prozer 3rd from Tampa, Fla., and former Wachovia banker Fedor Stanley Salinas were sentenced to prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud at Park Avenue Bank in Valdosta, Ga.

The bank failed in April 2011 and was acquired by Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK) in Little Rock, Ark.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez sentenced Prozer, 36, to eight and a half years in in prison. Salinas, 35, from Bethesda, Md., was sentenced for 27 months for aiding Prozer. The court also issued a $3 million money judgment against both men.

Salinas was a former “financial specialist” at Wachovia Bank in Langley Park, Md., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

Prozer was the chief executive of Xchangeagent, an Internet credit payment company servicing South Americans, though he is perhaps better known for his appearance in the reality television series, Millionaire Matchmaker.

According to court records, Salinas was recruited by Prozer to defraud Park Avenue Bank by obtaining a short-term business loan secured by non-existent collateral. Both men used false bank statements and documents to convince the bank that Prozer had more than $21 million in deposits at Wachovia Bank. Park Avenue Bank lost nearly $3 million as a result of the scheme. Both men pled guilty to the fraud in April.

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