A former senior vice president of Colonial Bank pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud which contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW).
50-year-old Catherine Kissick, of Orlando, Florida pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Virginia.
According to court documents, Kissick admitted that from 2002 through August 2009, she and her co-conspirators, including former TBW chairman Lee Farkas, engaged in a scheme to defraud various entities and individuals, including Colonial Bank, a federally insured bank; Colonial BancGroup Inc.; the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); and the investing public. Kissick admitted that she knowingly and intentionally placed Colonial Bank and Colonial BancGroup at significant risk by causing them to purchase and hold more than $400 million in assets on their books that had no value.
Kissick faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when she is sentenced on June 17.
