Mug Shot Monday — The Top Five Perps of 2014

December 29, 2014

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report Afternoon Brief

AubreyPriceThe sad truth is I don’t want for material in filing the Mug Shot Monday and Fraud Friday reports.

Too many of our brethren crossed the line during the Great Recession, and they are now paying the price for new digs at our expense.

Here’s my top five Mug Shot Monday perps of 2014

1. Nikesh Patel, First Farmers Financial, Florida — Indicted in October on charges of executing a simplistic fraud by filling in the blanks on 26 USDA B&I notes, faxing the notes to Pennant Management, then waiting a day or two for money to be wired to the checking account — $180 million worth — allegedly.

2. Aubrey Price, Montgomery Bank & Trust, Georgia — Conned $70 million from investors, then faked his own death. Was on the lam for over a year before being caught in a routine traffic stop. Sentenced to 30 years in jail in October.

3. Scott Fox, KeyBank, Maine — Sentenced to ten years in prison in January for a 17-year, $14 million fraud. Spent the proceeds on luxurious vacations, his kid’s private schools, their Olympic boating dreams, and of course the house for his mistress.

4. Phong Dinh Tran, Potomac Wine & Spirits, Maryland — Phong was a minor player in the Jade Capital fraud, but he allows me to bring it up again. Last year, Joon Pak of Jade Capital was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the $90 million SBA loan broker fraud.

5. Edward Woodward, Bank of Commonwealth, Virginia — The 70-year old former CEO reported to prison in January to serve a 23-year prison sentence for making bad loans and trying to mislead the Feds about the extent of the bank’s loan losses. The bank’s failure cost the FDIC $333 million.