A former bank chief executive and economic adviser to former President Donald Trump when he was a presidential candidate was sentenced Monday to one year and one day by a federal judge for corruptly soliciting a presidential administration position in exchange for approving $16 million in loans, according to federal law enforcement authorities.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Stephen M. Calk, 56, corruptly used his position as the head of a federally insured bank to issue millions of dollars in high-risk loans to former Trump presidential campaign director Paul Manafort in exchange for personal benefit. More specifically, according to the law enforcement authorities, Calk sought placement on the Donald J. Trump 2016 presidential campaign and assistance from Manafort in trying to obtain a senior position with the incoming presidential administration.
Calk was convicted in July in U.S. district court of financial institution bribery and conspiracy to commit financial institution bribery. He was indicted in May 2019 on charges of bank bribery, which also allegedly resulted in a multi-million-dollar loss to the bank he led as chief executive officer and board chairman, Federal Savings Bank, FSB, Chicago. Calk was subsequently banned from ever serving at a federally insured financial institution by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
In addition to the prison term, Calk, 56, was sentenced to two years of supervised release and 800 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay a $1 million fine on count 1 and a $250,000 fine on count 2.