The former vice president of Appalachian Community Bank in Ellijay, Ga., has been found guilty of a fraud that forced the bank into receivership in 2010.
A federal jury convicted William R. “Rusty” Beamon of five counts of bank fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta.
According the release,Beamon was in charge of Appalachian’s foreclosure liquidation department.
In 2009, he told a real estate agent that he owned a house in Cumming, Ga. He hired the agent to market and lease the property on his behalf. In fact, the bank owned the property, which was in foreclosure, the release stated.
The agent found someone who leased the property and Beamon pocketed more than $20,000 in rent payments and security deposits. Beamon also caused Appalachian to sell bank-owned properties to his wife and to a shell company that he owned-all at prices that were substantially below what other buyers were willing and able to pay, the release stated. ready, willing, and able to pay the bank.
“Beamon’s greed and self-dealing at the expense of the bank left holes in the bank’s books that the bank tried to fill when it applied for [Troubled Asset Relief Program] funds,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP.