Top lawyer charged with conspiracy to defraud bank before it failed in 2017

A former general counsel of a New Orleans bank was charged with conspiracy to defraud the financial institution he once worked for, and which failed, the Department of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said Friday.

In a release, the two agencies said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Louisiana charged Gregory St. Angelo, 54, of Tammany Parish with conspiracy to defraud First NBC Bank, a New Orleans-based bank that failed in April 2017. St. Angelo, the U.S. Attorney’s office said, was general counsel (and a borrower fromm the bank) from “around 2006 through the fall of 2016.” 

The U.S. attorney’s office said that, between 2006-17, St. Angelo and others “known and unknown” to federal prosecutors “conspired to defraud First NBC Bank by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, relating to a material fact.”

The federal law enforcement office added that the purpose of the conspiracy was for St. Angelo and two others referred to only as “Bank President A, Bank Officer B, and others” to enrich themselves unjustly by disguising the true financial status of St. Angelo, the businesses he owned and other borrowers, concealing the accurate performance of loans, “and misrepresenting the nature of payments to St. Angelo and certain Entities.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office said St. Angelo could face up to 30 years’ imprisonment, a fine of more than $1 million or twice the gross gain to him or the gross loss of any victims, five years of supervised release, and a special assessment of $100 if found guilty.

Bank General Counsel Charged with Conspiracy to Defraud First NBC Bank