Crime tileWilliam R. “Rusty” Beamon Jr., 54, has been sentenced to three years and six months in federal prison for defrauding Appalachian Community Bank in Ellijay, Ga., according to a news release.
“Former banker Beamon, of TARP applicant Appalachian Community Bank, was sentenced … for raiding the bank’s inventory of foreclosed real estate when the bank was seeking a TARP bailout,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “Beamon fraudulently rented out bank-owned properties and collected rent payments for his own use, and he caused the bank to sell properties to his wife and to a shell company he controlled at severely discounted prices – prices well below what others were willing to pay.
“He claims he did it to save the bank, but these transactions put the bank in jeopardy, and Beamon profited,” Romero stated.
Beamon, a resident of Atlanta, was convicted by a jury of five counts of bank fraud on Dec. 19, 2014, after a five-day trial.
After his prison term he will serve five years on supervised release. He must pay a $500 special assessment and forfeit all real properties involved in the offense.