Another guilty plea in Colonial, Taylor Bean & Whitaker fraud case

Another domino falls towards Alabama in the ongoing investigation into bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy involving officials at the very top of Colonial BancGroup and former mortgage giant Taylor Bean & Whitaker.
 
In June 2010, the government obtained an indictment against former Taylor Bean CEO Lee Farkas.

Last week, Taylor Bean’s former Treasurer Desiree Brown entered a guilty plea in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

This week, another guilty plea is expected: Catherine Kissick, Senior Vice President and Director of both the Institutional Services Division and Mortgage Warehouse Lending Division of the once mighty $26 billion Colonial BancGroup.

Suevon Lee, reporter from Ocala.com has the story from last Friday.

In the original Farkas indictment and the accompanying SEC filings, the government contends that Farkas and an unnamed “Colonial Bank Officer” conspired and engaged in a complicated check kiting scheme to conceal Taylor Bean’s financial dealings.  The filings associated with the Kissick deal indicate that she is the “Colonial Bank Officer” mentioned in the Farkas case.

In Spring 2009, as Colonial’s peril became clear, court documents show that Farkas then allegedly conspired with a “Senior BancGroup Officer” to conceal a fraudulent scheme to obtain TARP funding from the government.  That “Senior BancGroup Officer” is believed to be Bobby Lowder.

In her testimony before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema last week, Desiree Brown acknowledged the existence of an even larger conspiracy to defraud taxpayers out of nearly $2.0 billion.

Always worth pointing out—Bobby Lowder’s reputation as a micromanager means that he is certain to have not only known about the scheme to defraud the government, he would be neck deep in the details. His banking empire is now in ruins. His old friends Robert Geddie and Milton McGregor are facing conspiracy charges of their own and the NCAA Enforcement staff is breathing down the neck of Auburn University.

Exit question: Since he represents damned near everyone listed in the paragraph above, what’s the over-under on the hours billed by Super Lawyer Sam Franklin?

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