A real-estate developer who lives in Norwalk pleaded guilty in a scheme to bribe a manager with Fleet Bank, which is now owned by Bank of America Corp.
Richard Girouard, a 55-year-old who also has a residence in Stuart, Fla., admitted to paying between $400,000 and $1 million to a firm owned by an attorney named Paul Aparo, in exchange for Aparo paying a Fleet Bank manager named Kevin O”™Keefe to help him take over Fleet Bank interests in leases and installment sales contracts.
Aparo and O”™Keefe have also entered guilty pleas for their roles in the scheme. Girouard agreed to forfeit property valued at $2 million and to pay more than $400,000 in restitution. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March, with the crime carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison.
