A Florida hotel developer is the third person to plead guilty in relation to the 2008 failure of Integrity Bank in Alpharetta, one of the largest failures in the state.
Guy Mitchell, 53, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit bank fraud and to paying bribes to an officer of a financial institution. His plea “brings this bank fraud investigation and prosecution to a just conclusion,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement.
Mitchell will be sentenced in October and could receive up to five years in prison, and a fine.
Mitchell borrowed more than $40 million from the bank to finance hotels, including the Casa Madrona Hotel in Sausalito, Calif., which he said he planned to renovate, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Mitchell never did any work on the hotel, but used the money to buy a private island in the Bahamas, a mansion, cars, jewelry and other items. At the same time, he was bribing a former Integrity loan officer with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That loan officer, Douglas Ballard, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion. Todd Foster, another Integrity employee, pleaded guilty to securities fraud.
Mitchell was the bank’s largest borrower. His default on the loans contributed to Integrity Bank’s failure, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Mitchell initially pleaded not guilty and was released on $2.5 million bond in 2010. At the time, his lawyer, Ed Garland said Mitchell was “just another real estate developer crushed by the economy.”
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