The former president of privately-held Park Avenue Bank was arrested on allegations of fraud on Monday, including charges of making false statements in the failed bank's application for US government bailout funds. A criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court said Charles Antonucci "made material and false statements" in the bank's application for $11.2 million of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP.
The charges include self-dealing, bank bribery, embezzlement and fraud on the New York state banking department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and TARP, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said. Antonucci was president of the bank from June 2004 to October 2009 and the alleged offenses occurred between October 2008 and February 2009, according to the court document.
On Friday, state regulators closed Park Avenue Bank, which had assets of $520.1 million and deposits of $494.5 million at the end of 2009, according to the FDIC. In November the bank applied for a bailout of less than $12 million under the TARP program, but withdrew its application over concerns about restrictions on banks that receive taxpayer money, bank chairman Donald Glascoff said on March 10.