Financial Fraud: PHILIP HENRY COOPER Plead Guilty In $5 Million Bribery and Wire Fraud Scheme

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Former Regions Bank Executive Agrees to Plead Guilty in $5 Million Bribery and Wire Fraud Scheme

<h2>Former Regions Bank Executive Agrees to Plead Guilty in &dollar;5 Million Bribery and Wire Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>BIRMINGHAM – A former senior vice president at Regions Bank has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in a &dollar;5 million bribery and wire fraud scheme&comma; announced Acting U&period;S&period; Attorney Robert O&period; Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C&period; Stanton&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed a plea agreement in U&period;S&period; District Court with PHILIP HENRY COOPER&comma; 67&comma; of Birmingham&period; As part of the agreement&comma; Cooper pledges to plead guilty to conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes for steering Regions’ business to a company established by a co-conspirator&comma; and to conspiracy to launder the millions of dollars the conspirators received as part of the scheme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Along with his two co-conspirators&comma; Cooper agrees to repay Regions &dollar;5&period;1 million&comma; according to the plea agreement&period; Cooper also agreed to forfeit approximately &dollar;1&period;5 million he received from the scheme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cooper was indicted last year along with Richard Alan Henderson&comma; 57&comma; of Hoover&comma; on conspiracy&comma; bank bribery&comma; wire fraud affecting a <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"751">financial<&sol;a> institution and money laundering charges&period; Henderson&comma; who also was a senior vice president at Regions&comma; is scheduled for trial on those charges in June&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A third conspirator in the case&comma; Jesse Stewart Ellis&comma; 56&comma; of Hoover&comma; pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit bank bribery and wire fraud&comma; and money laundering conspiracy&period; He is scheduled for sentencing June 26&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Henderson and Cooper served as senior officers of Regions Bank&period; Through a wholly-owned subsidiary&comma; Regions Equipment Financing Company&comma; Regions Bank offered business customers various financing tools&comma; including equipment financing and lease options&period; Henderson was first assigned to be finance manager of REFCO and was later promoted by Regions Bank to REFCO’s chief administrative officer&period; Cooper worked for Regions Bank as REFCO’s asset manager&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Cooper’s plea agreement&comma; he and Henderson recruited Ellis to establish a company that would enter an agreement with REFCO to provide residual value insurance&comma; a type of insurance designed to manage asset value risk and provide favorable accounting treatment on leases for Regions Bank&period; Ellis had no experience providing residual value insurance&period; The defendants directed REFCO’s residual value insurance business to Ellis’ new company&comma; and Ellis&comma; in return&comma; split the money paid to him with Henderson and Cooper&comma; according to the charges and Cooper’s plea agreement&period; Cooper and Henderson concealed from Regions that they were receiving money as a result of directing residual value insurance business to the company Ellis established&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between Sept&period; 2010 and Nov&period; 2015&comma; REFCO paid Ellis’ company&comma; Residual Assurance Inc&period;&comma; about &dollar;5&period;1 million&period; Henderson received about &dollar;1&period;8 million as a result of the scheme and Cooper received about &dollar;1&period;5 million&comma; according to Cooper’s plea agreement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2014&comma; after initially receiving his share of the bribery money in cash&comma; Cooper established a company named Capital Equipment Appraisal Service to receive his payments&comma; according to the plea agreement&period; After May 2014&comma; Ellis deposited most of Cooper’s share of the bribery payments into a Wells Fargo Bank account Cooper opened for that company&period; Cooper also had a part of his share of the money deposited into an account at Merrill Lynch&comma; according to the plea agreement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years in prison and a &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&period; The maximum penalty for money laundering conspiracy is 20 years in prison and a fine of &dollar;500&comma;000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction&comma; whichever is greater&period; As part of the plea agreement&comma; the government recommends a five-year prison sentence for Cooper&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The FBI investigated the case&comma; which Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorneys George A&period; Martin Jr&period;&comma; Henry B&period; Cornelius&comma; and John B&period; Ward are prosecuting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-ndal&sol;pr&sol;former-regions-bank-executive-agrees-plead-guilty-5-million-bribery-and-wire-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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