DETROIT – A Port Huron bank president will pay $185,000 and was permanently barred from the banking industry as a result of his felony conviction for making false statements to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said Douglas E. Brandewie, the former president of mortgage lending at Citizen's First Savings Bank in Port Huron, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge
Denise Page Hood.
Recommended Videos
What happened
On May 10, 2012, Brandewie pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the FDIC. In January 2009, Brandewie was responsible for preparing his department's records for examination by the FDIC. To hide unfavorable real estate appraisals from the FDIC, he purged the appraisals from the real estate mortgage files held by Citizens. The misrepresentations concealed potential loan losses and impairments from FDIC auditors, preventing an accurate assessment of Citizens' financial stability.
Landmark case
This case marked the U.S. Attorney's Office's first-ever civil action under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), which imposes civil penalties for
criminal violations including making false statements to the FDIC.
Sentencing
Because Brandewie's conduct did not cause a loss to Citizens Bank, Hood sentenced Brandewie within the U.S. sentencing guidelines to one day in prison and 1 ordered him to serve a period of supervised release of two years in addition to ordering him to comply with the $185,000 civil settlement and barring him from the banking industry.