A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the former chief operating officer and chief credit officer of a California-based bank that went bust must spend more than eight years in prison, the Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported yesterday. Ebrahim Shabudin had been convicted of seven federal fraud charges following the 2009 collapse of United Commercial Bank. Prosecutors accused Shabudin of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to hide the bank’s troubled finances, including securing more than $300 million in federal bailout funds that were lost when the bank failed in 2009. Its assets were sold to another bank, and its parent filed for bankruptcy liquidation. Specifically, Shabudin was accused of falsifying bank records to hide millions of dollars in losses and shore up the bank’s reputation during the height of the financial crisis. After a six-week trial, a jury in March found him guilty of securities fraud and six other charges.
