Irvington executive admits guilt in loan fraud scheme

A former investment banker from Irvington pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to defraud his former employer and Oklahoma insurance regulators in a $30 million loan scheme that led to the collapse of an Oklahoma insurance company.

Allen Reichman, 55, former executive director of investments at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. As part of his plea, he agreed to forfeit $200,000 ”“ his commission on the fraudulently obtained loan, according to the U.S. attorney”™s office in Manhattan ”“ and to pay restitution of $10 million to the Oppenheimer firm. Though the firm was not named in court documents, Reichman”™s position at Oppenheimer was widely reported at the time of his arrest in 2012.

Also charged in the case were Charles J. Antonucci Sr., president of Park Avenue Bank, which failed in 2010; Matthew L. Morris, senior vice president at the same New York bank; and Wilbur Anthony Huff, a Kentucky businessman accused of joining the bankers in looting the assets of an Oklahoma insurance company, Providence P&C, that had been acquired by Antonucci. Unable to pay policyholders, the insolvent insurance company was placed in receivership in 2009.

Antonucci pleaded guilty in the Oklahoma scheme as part of his conviction in 2010 for stealing federal bank bailout funds from the U.S. Treasury”™s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Morris and Huff pleaded guilty last year and await sentencing.

According to the U.S. attorney”™s office, Reichman and his co-conspirators misled Oppenheimer & Co. and Oklahoma insurance regulators about the financing of Antonucci’s purchase of Providence P&C, which was owed $5 million by a company controlled by Huff. Prosecutors said other Oppenheimer executives repeatedly warned Reichman that using Providence P&C”™s assets as collateral for the $30 million loan was illegal. Reichman ignored the warnings and provided misleading information to colleagues and others regarding the loan, including directing Antonucci to sign a letter providing false information on the loan collateral.