M&T's Wilmington Trust to pay $44M to settle allegations of loan fraud

M&T Bank’s Wilmington Trust unit has agreed to pay $44 million to settle an investigation into alleged loan fraud.

The Justice Department and Wilmington Trust agreed to a $60 million settlement figure, with Wilmington Trust receiving credit for $16 million previously paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission for other matters.

Wilmington Trust and some of its executives had been accused of intentionally understating past-due loans in 2009 and 2010. The Justice Department agreed to drop criminal charges against the bank as part of the settlement. However, the charges remain active against four former executives.

Wilmington Trust “has been a fixture in this community for more than 100 years,” David Weiss, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, said in a statement. “This is … why this office has invested substantial time, energy and resources in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”

The settlement is separate from previous legal matters that involved Brian Bailey, who oversaw Wilmington Trust’s lending activities in Delaware and who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2014, and Joseph Terranova, a former loan officer who pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2013.

The $124 billion-asset M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., acquired Wilmington Trust in 2011 for $351 million. “Wilmington Trust believes resolving this matter now is in the best interest of the company,” M&T Bank said in a statement.