WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The former president of the only financial institution criminally charged in connection with the federal bank bailout program has been sentenced to six years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.
Former Wilmington Trust president Robert Harra Jr. was sentenced Monday. He and three other bank officials were convicted in May of concealing the bank’s troubled condition from regulators and shareholders following the 2008 financial crisis.
Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of eight years, while Harra’s attorney asked for probation, citing his long history of community service.
The defendants were convicted of misleading regulators and investors about Wilmington Trust’s massive amount of past-due commercial real estate loans before the bank was hastily sold in 2011. The century-old bank imploded despite receiving $330 million from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.
