October 29, 2018

Three people have been indicted by a federal grand jury for deceiving a now defunct bank and the FDIC from 2009 to 2010. Joseph Natale, the former CEO of First State Bank, Albert Gasparro, an investment advisor, and Gary Ketchum, a business owner, allegedly duped the bank into paying them $715,000 in fees for a $7 million investment, which turned out to be primarily comprised of the bank’s own funds. To further the fraud, Ketchum then took out loans amounting to $176,000 from the bank and, together with the other two defendants, misrepresented the misconduct to the bank and the FDIC. If convicted of all 13 counts of fraud, the three face decades in prison and millions of dollars in fines. USAO NJ

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud,