A former New York-based Bank of America executive received tens of thousands of dollars at a time in cash bribes, federal prosecutors say, in exchange for fraudulently helping a New Jersey firm get a line of credit at the bank.
Kurt Phelps, the executive, was arrested Oct. 29 and charged with bank bribery and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Phelps’ arrest is a rare instance of an executive at a major U.S. bank arrested for their conduct as a banker.
Federal prosecutors accused Phelps of a bribery scheme in which he coached Starnet Business Solutions, a Mahwah, N.J. print shop, to falsify financial records to get a line of credit from Bank of America in exchange for cash. Phelps pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes over a number of years, prosecutors said.
The original full article can be found at charlotteobserver.com
(Photo: THE NEW YORK TIMES)