Mug Shot Monday – Community Bank CEO Blames Personal Financial Woes for Fraud Plea

November 24, 2014

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report

courtroom2Reports Maureen Milford, The News Journal, “The once-respected Wilmington Trust Co. said his criminal acts resulted from a reckless attempt to “find a way out” of “desperate financial circumstances.”

“Faced with mounting professional and personal issues, I made decisions that have, and will, impact me for the remainder of my life,” said James A. Ladio, 58, the former chief executive of MidCoast Community Bank, in a letter to U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews.

“The debt was always manageable, but the salary of a community banker, while respectable, grows slowly and catching up was hard,” Ladio said.

“It was critical that the CEO be vested at a meaningful level, however, I invested beyond my means and after paying tax penalties for invading my pension funds, I found myself further in debt,” he writes.

“I knew this had ethical and regulatory consequences, but I did not consider the greater consequences. At the time it appeared to be the best of two evils,” Ladio said.

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Read the Sentencing Memorandum. Exhibit B is Jame’s letter to the judge