SAN FRANCISCO: A former bank executive has agreed to plead guilty in a U.S. criminal case resulting from the bank's failure after it received a $300 million federal bailout, according to a court filing on Friday.
Thomas Yu was charged with securities fraud and other criminal counts in 2011, amid allegations that he helped conceal loan losses at San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank. The joint court filing on Friday from U.S. prosecutors and Yu's attorney did not specify which charges he would admit.
A Department of Justice representative could immediately be reached for comment, nor could Yu's attorney.
UCB's former chief operating officer Ebrahim Shabudin was charged alongside Yu. Shabudin's attorney also could not be reached for comment.
UCB, the ninth-largest bank to fail during the financial crisis, catered to California's Asian community and expanded rapidly before regulators closed it. It had received a $298.7 million bailout from the U.S. government in November 2008. After the closure, its operations were taken over by East West Bancorp.
Yu also faces civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, alongside UCB's former chief executive, Thomas Wu. The SEC complaint alleges that they concealed loan losses from investors, leading the bank to understate its 2008 operating losses by about $65 million. Wu was not criminally charged.
Yu is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in October, according to the court filing.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is United States of America vs. Thomas Yu, 11-cr-664. - Reuters
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