A Manhattan jury today found Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a major player in Chinatown, not guilty of mortgage fraud. Two top bank executives were also acquitted. The financial institution is owned by the Sung family, which also has many real estate holdings on the Lower East Side, including the dormant Loew’s Canal Theater.
In 2012, the New York District Attorney’s office charged the bank and 19 former employees with mortgage fraud and other offenses, in connection with the falsification of Fannie Mae loan documents. Eight defendants pleaded guilty but the bank’s CEO, Yiu Wah Wong, and Raymond Tam, another high-ranking official, proceeded to trial.
As the New York Times reported, Thomas Sung, the bank’s founder, criticized the prosecution today. “This entire wrongful prosecution has exhausted a small community bank such as ours… This is a gross injustice, not only to a small bank, but is casting a shadow on our community, that this community somehow condones or conducts illegal activity. This is totally prejudicial and incorrect.”
While the bank was prosecuted as a corporate entity, no member of the Sung family was personally charged.
