Mug Shot Monday — Another Failed TARP Recipient Community Banker Guilty of 5 Counts of Fraud

‘After a one week trial, the jury convicted David Weimert, a senior officer of AnchorBank, for a fraud he committed during the time the bank applied for and received TARP bailout funds,’ says Christy Romero, SIGTARP.

‘SIGTARP’s investigation with our law enforcement partners revealed that, while in serious financial trouble during the financial crisis, the bank decided that it needed to sell a property to raise funds to make an interest payment that was coming due.

‘The jury convicted this TARP bank officer for a fraud that involved him conning the bank into believing that there was a buyer for the property who conditioned the purchase on Weimert having an ownership stake in the property and Weimert receiving a commission, which was not true. Believing there to be no other option, the bank approved the deal, which netted Weimert the cash he needed to buy the ownership stake.

‘SIGTARP will bring justice and accountability for crime at banks that taxpayers funded with bailout dollars.’

At the trial, Weimert’s supervisors at the Wisconsin-based bank testified against the Senior Vice President in Lending Administration. They said he falsely represented that the Burke Group, a commercial real estate developer in California, would only purchase the bank’s share of a REO property contingent on Weimert purchasing a minority interest of the project as part of the deal.

Weimert failed to disclose to the bank Board that it was Weimert who desired the minority interest for himself, not the Burke Group.

As a result of Weimert’s misrepresentations, the bank approved the offer to purchase the property. Weimert received a 4.785% ownership interest as part of the deal and a 4% commission fee of $311,680.

In January 2009, AnchorBank, received $110 million in federal taxpayer funds through the
TARP Program.

In August 2013, the bank filed for bankruptcy reorganization, and as a result, the federal
government later suffered a loss of $104 million on the investment in addition to losing more than $23 million the bank owed as a result of holding TARP funds.

Weimert faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison on each count

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