Former Westchester banker Biagio Maffettone has consented to a $150,000 penalty and a ban on working for any bank, credit union or federally-insured depository institution.
Maffettone had received $52,023 in kickbacks from September 2017 to October 2018, according to an administrative law complaint filed last year by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, while working as a home mortgage manager for Citizens Bank in Westchester.
The federal agency alleged that his actions were part of a pattern of misconduct, involved personal dishonesty, and demonstrated a disregard for the safety or soundness of the bank.
Maffettone, formerly of Eastchester, agreed to the sanctions on July 18 and the OCC publicized the consent order on Aug. 18.
He denied any wrongdoing last year in his formal answer to the charges. In signing the consent order, he neither admitted nor denied the allegations but consented to the sanctions “in the interest of cooperation and to avoid the costs associated with future administrative and judicial proceedings.”
When Citizens Bank hired Maffettone in 2015, he oversaw loans referred from a large real estate firm with offices in Chappaqua and Katonah.
In 2017 he was promoted to supervise loan officers, and in that position he was no longer paid commissions and had to relinquish control of the real estate firm’s referrals.
But Maffettone allegedly told a loan officer not to pursue loan referrals in Katonah that he deemed as part of his own book of business, and he demanded half of the commissions from another loan officer who handled loans in Chappaqua and Scarsdale.
The second loan officer reluctantly accepted the kickback arrangement, according to the OCC, but later reported the scheme to supervisors.
Maffettone resigned the day before he was to meet with bank investigators.
He argued in his answer to the OCC charges that splitting commissions is a common industry practice and that his conduct caused no harm to the bank or to bank customers.
The consent order allows him to get back in banking if the OCC and a new institution give him written permission.
After he left Citizens Bank in 2018, Maffettone went to work as director of sales for RealFi Home Funding Corp. in White Plains, according to his LinkedIn profile. He left that position in July to work as director of sales in Westchester for Meadowbrook Financial Mortgage Bankers Corp.
