James A. Regas, 82, of Oak Brook, was sentenced today to a year and a day in federal prison; who as chairman of the board of directors of the former Western Springs National Bank & Trust, made false statements in regulatory documents regarding his undisclosed personal interest in loans that resulted in the bank losing more than $680,000.
Regas pleaded guilty last July, admitting that he falsified and concealed material facts that should have been fully disclosed to the bank’s directors and government regulators during 2008 and 2009. He has paid $681,617 in restitution, and he was fined $60,000 by U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman, who cited Regas’ “sustained course of conduct” in imposing the sentence in federal court in Chicago. Regas was ordered to begin serving his sentence in 90 days.
In his guilty plead, Regas admitted that between 2004 and 2009, he referred business associates to Western Springs for loans, without disclosing to the bank that he had financial partnerships with those individuals and that he intended to benefit personally from the loans. He admitted causing a bank employee to file a false quarterly Report of Condition and Income, signing the report knowing they contained false information and knowingly submitted false conflict-of-interest statements to the bank in which he denied having any financial relationship with any of the bank’s borrowers.
The bank’s two Western Springs National Bank & Trust branches were closed by federal regulators in April 2011, and its assets were purchased by Heartland Bank and Trust Company. The sentence was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
February 20, 2013
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