Between May and July of 2023, Hanes transferred $47.1 million of the bank's funds to the fraudulent scheme. This ultimately led to the bank collapsing, with equity investors losing $9 million and the FDIC footing the bill. "There were people who lost 70, 80% of their retirement" as a result of their investment losses, stated a community member.
Woof. Not sure what was his game plan. Smuggle out $47 million in three months, double it in crypto, return the original, and sit pretty?
If the bank compliance controls were so bad he could sneak off with that much, he probably could have just squirreled away a couple of million without anybody noticing.
He is a bank CEO. If he wanted to get a couple of millions out of the bank, he could probably have just sat there until his retirement collecting his pay check. Foolproof plan.
While I guess “crypto” makes the headlines, this seems to just be garden variety embezzlement, only I this case the embezzlement was to support an “investment” that was itself fraud.
It’s not functionally any different from if the money was lost due to him embezzling and putting it into madoff’s fund or Enron, etc
I’d add an additional note though: bro was a bank CEO yet fell for a blazingly obvious scam, so it seems like the people who put him there should have to answer questions about their approach to ensuring he was competent for the position.
The Material Loss Review (linked below and elsewhere) provides details of the "pig butchering" scam, wire transfers to crypto platforms and mentions that $8-$12 million worth of crypto may be recoverable (but would not be enough to restore the bank's required capital).
If the bank compliance controls were so bad he could sneak off with that much, he probably could have just squirreled away a couple of million without anybody noticing.