Ashton J. Ryan Jr., the former top executive of the now-defunct First NBC Bank (New Orleans) was found guilty last week of fraud that contributed to the failure of the nearly $5-billion-in-assets bank in 2017, according to the federal bank deposit insurer’s inspector general.
In a release, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said Ryan was convicted on 46 counts, which included one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, 36 counts of bank fraud, and nine counts of making false entries in bank records. It said former First NBC Bank senior vice president Fred V. Beebe was found not guilty on all seven counts against him.
The Feb. 10 release states that Ryan and others conspired to defraud First NBC Bank by disguising the true financial status of certain borrowers and their troubled loans, concealing the true financial condition of the bank from its board of directors, auditors, and examiners. Briefly, it said Ryan and others made false statements, omitting the truth about the borrowers’ inability to pay off their deft without borrowing more.
It said the bank’s failure cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) “slightly under” $1 billion.
At the time of its closure in 2017, the FDIC said the federally insured, state-chartered institution reported more than $4.7 billion in assets at the end of 2016. The FDIC entered into a purchase-and-assumption agreement with Whitney Bank (Gulfport, Miss.).
Ashton J. Ryan, Jr. Found Guilty of Fraud Resulting In Failure of First NBC Bank