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Ex-bank president pleads guilty
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Posted on May 13 1999
A plea agreement was reached yesterday between the Attorney General’s Office and Juan S. Torres who entered into a guilty plea for violation of the CNMI Banking Act, according to a press statement from defense lawyer Robert J. O’Connor.
His guilty plea handed him a minor punishment of misdemeanor, which would only require community service and a fine of $3,000.
The former president of the Bank of Saipan approved a $50,000 loan in 1996 to the Torres Egg Farm without the full board’s approval. Although, the Torres Egg Farm is a family-owned company, he did not own a single stock when the loan was processed.
According to the press statement, as the bank president, he was allowed to approve loans up to $100,000.
“Based upon that blanket of approval, I thought the loan to the Egg Farm was OK ….Apparently my assumption was incorrect and I agreed to take responsibility for being in technical violation of the law,” Torres said.
O’Connor said the company paid the loan in full and ahead of schedule.
“The Bank lost no money and there was no victim . This was purely technical violation of the very complicated Banking Act and my client felt it was better for him and his family to plead guilty than to go through a lengthy trial,” he said.
