Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Wilmington Trust execs will avoid prison until appeals conclude

Sophia Schmidt/Delaware Public Media

Several former Wilmington Trust bank executives convicted of fraud will not report to prison next month.

 

Former executives Robert Harra, William North, David Gibson and Kevyn Rakowski will remain free on bail until their appeals are finished, according to a District Court order filed Wednesday.  

The four were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and making false statements to federal regulators last spring. They have all appealed the convictions.

A jury decided the bank officials hid hundreds of millions of dollars of past-due commercial real estate loans in reports to federal regulators during the Great Recession in 2009 and 2010. Those toxic loans led to Wilmington Trust’s downfall.

The former executives were each sentenced to several years in prison and fines late last year. They were scheduled to report to prison this month, but their self-report dates were moved to next month after their counsel requested an extension.

This week's order reasons that the former executives can be free on bail until their appeals are finished because they are not flight risks and are not appealing simply to delay. The judge wrote that their appeals raise a “substantial" legal question.

 

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
Related Content