A former Carroll County bank president pleaded guilty Tuesday to issuing loans for cash kickbacks and faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced later this year.
S. Pope Cleghorn Jr., former president and chief executive officer of Hometown Bank of Villa Rica, also faces a fine of up to $1 million, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Cleghorn, 39, used customers’ deposits to make fraudulent loans to a borrower who paid Cleghorn cash kickbacks.
The borrower is identified as Russell T. Long, 52, of Destin, Fla. Long has already pleaded guilty to conspiring with Cleghorn to defraud the bank.
Prosecutors said Cleghorn issued multiple loans to Long without authorization from Hometown Bank’s loan committee. Cleghorn also directed that the minutes of loan committee meetings be falsified to indicate that loans to Long had been approved even though they hadn’t.
“Once their scheme started to unravel, the defendant tried to cover it up with lies and phony documents he provided to the FDIC during a bank examination,” Yates said. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insures deposits at banks and also examines banks for compliance with laws.
Prosecutors say Cleghorn issued Long a $1 million loan in 2005 for Long to develop a subdivision in Wetumpka, Ala. He also issued Long a $1.8 million loan so Long could build himself a house in Destin, prosecutors said.
In return, Long paid Cleghorn more than $130,000 in kickback cash between 2003 through 2006, prosecutors said.
In December, Cleghorn was banned from banking by the FDIC for alleged actions that, at the time, were not disclosed.
The FDIC, however, said at the time Cleghorn’s actions “demonstrate [his] unfitness to serve” as a bank director or officer, and he may not participate in the affairs of a bank without written authorization from regulators.
Hometown Bank and its parent company, GB&T Bancshares Inc., were acquired by Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. in a deal finalized in 2008.
Cleghorn will be sentenced Nov. 18.
__ Staff writer J. Scott Trubey contributed to this report.
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