Conley sentenced to 1 year and 1 day

Claude M. Conley, former chairman of the board of Directors for Bank of Alamo was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison by United States District Judge J. Daniel Breen for his role in providing William Saveh a series of loans after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had notified bank officials that no loans could be made to Mr. Saveh.

Judge Breen also ordered Mr. Conley to pay restitution in the amount of one million forty three thousand dollars for his involvement.

Mr. Conley is one of seven individuals who have been charged in the bank fraud case involving Bank of Alamo which started in 2006. He has been charged with conspiring to defraud the government and making fraudulent statements concerning bank regulations.

The loans in question are from August of 2001. The three loans were made to William Saveh for business ventures around the west Tennessee area according to Federal Officials.

William Saveh for his role in the scheme is currently facing four counts of bank fraud and has entered a plea arrangement with federal prosecutors. United States Attorney Lawrence Laurenzi has stated that his sentencing will take place sometime in December of this year.

The United States Attorney’s Office recommended a reduced sentence for Conley as he was the first individual to come forward to authorities in regard to the allegations. Mr. Conley offered to provide testimony and has no previous criminal recorded.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2000 recommended to Mr. Conley to obtain assistant in the operation of running the Bank of Alamo. Mr. Conley at that time hired John Sanders as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the bank. Mr. Sanders has also accepted a plea arrangement with federal prosecutors and is currently awaiting sentencing.

Attorney Laurenzi stated on Tuesday that Mr. Conley was aware of that no additional loans were to be made to Mr. Saveh. Mr. Conley however believed that the bank would be able to find additional financing from other financial institutions for the loans once they were made. The bank was unable to locate additional financers for the loans and the Bank of Alamo proceeded to go into default. Tax payers in the end were stuck with the loss.

Mr. Conley himself did not profit from the loans made to Mr. Saveh however he did not take the appropriate steps to halt the loans and or notify other bank directors in regard to the three loans made by Mr. Saveh.

Attorney Laurenzi believes charging Mr. Conley sends a message to other bank officials who are conducting similar activities will be deterred by Mr. Conley’s sentencing.

Mr. Conley in a brief statement at this sentencing stated “I’ve lost nine farms, lost my cotton gins and lost my banks. I have betrayed my trust to my family; I’ve justly suffered and will suffer the rest of my life.” He stated he was remorseful for his role and has had to endure the shame of his actions since 2003.

William Paul Maddox and William Vincent Maddox are schedule to receive their sentences in regard to bank fraud on October 27 of this year.

The case against Peggy Hooper has been dismissed.

George Eivazzadeh, William Saveh’s nephew received a sentence of two years probation. The judge ordered him to pay back four hundred sixty five thousand dollars in losses from a loan.

Lazaria Saveh was also sentence to two years probation. The judge ordered him to pay three hundred eighteen thousand dollars for agreeing to a loan in his name.

George Eivazzadeh and Lazaria Saveh received lighter sentencing as their actions didn’t result from them profiting in anyway and were more of a straw buyer in a sense. They were sentences because they did sign the documents that were fraudulent.

The United States Justice Department states that the large numbers of loans the Bank Alamo allowed that were over the banks legal limit to lend prior to its failure in 2002. The bank had approximately six million of a total of fifty five million three under thousand dollars in bank deposits. The bank held sixty nine million four hundred thousand dollars in assets in over two hundred accounts. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures up to one hundred thousand dollars in bank accounts. The two hundred bank accounts held by Bank of Alamo that exceeded the limit.

The loans provided to William Saveh were to go to the purchase and build Krystal Restaurants, BP gas station and an E.W James Grocery store. Attorney Laurenzi stated that if it hadn’t been for the Saveh loans Bank of Alamo would still be operation today.


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