Former Commercial Bank Executive Charged

Banking executive Charles J. Antonucci Sr., the former president and CEO at Park Avenue Bank of New York, was arrested Monday on charges including allegations that he defrauded regulators.

According to prosecutors, Antonucci made false statements to regulators as he tried to receive approximately $11 million from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program and thus prevent his bank from failing.

Prosecutors charged Antonucci with 10 counts of fraud, bribery and other crimes - including stealing $103,000 from pastors of a church in Coral Springs, Fla. and accepting free plane rides from a bank customer. He could face up to 30 years in prison for each fraud and embezzlement charge.

Park Avenue Bank failed last week after piling up more than $27 million in net losses last year. The lender specialized in commercial real estate loans. Bad loans shrank the bank's capital to just $3.3 million at year's end, down 87% from two years earlier, according to filings the bank made with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank's four branches were taken over by Valley National Bank.

Antonucci is the first person to be charged criminally with attempting to defraud TARP, the bank bailout program passed in 2008, prosecutors said.

"The bank was broken so, in October and November 2008, Antonucci methodically went about pretending to fix it," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said during a press conference.

Park Avenue Bank of New York is not affiliated with Park Avenue Bank in Georgia.