Two Colorado Springs men each received a three-year prison sentence and were ordered to jointly pay $1.1 million in restitution for defrauding a Lamar bank that received taxpayer support, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado said Friday.
Christopher Tumbaga, 37, a bank loan officer at Colorado East Bank & Trust, obtained more than 14 loans under multiple names and misapplied a line of credit belonging to another bank customer to benefit his high school friend and co-defendant Brian Headle, 38, a real estate developer.
“Tumbaga and Headle formed a partnership in which Tumbaga would secure fraudulent loans for Headle’s benefit, and in return, Tumbaga would receive from Headle kickbacks financed by profits from Headle’s real estate venture,” according to a release from U.S. Attorney John Walsh.
Tumbaga helped Headle fraudulently obtain $1.2 million from Colorado East Bank, receiving $60,000 in kickbacks. The bank received $10 million in bailout funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which drew extra attention from federal authorities.
“This crime could not have happened without a bank gatekeeper like Tumbaga, who opened the door to Headle while taxpayers ended up losing $2 million on their TARP investment,” TARP special inspector general Christy Romero said in a statement.
The bank received $10 million in bailout funds in February 2009, and the fraud began soon after, lasting from March 2009 to July 2011, according to authorities.
Federal taxpayers ended up losing $2 million on their investment with the bank, which got its start in Holly in 1905. An official with the bank declined to comment on the case.
A on Sept. 25, 2013, and they both pleaded guilty.
