A former senior official at Wilmington Trust Company, Wilmington, Delaware has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud according to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP.)  Joseph Terranova, who faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine, had been the vice president and division manager of the banks Delaware Commercial Real Estate Division.  Wilmington Trust Company was a recipient of TARP funds.

According to the criminal complaint and plea agreement Terranova conspired to extend credit to customers of the bank under terms that were not consistent with those approved by the bank's Loan Committee or which would not have been approved had the Committee been presented them. Among the questionable loans were some to Dover Delaware real estate developer Michael Zimmerman who has been charged under a separate indictment.  Terranova is also alleged to have conspired to conceal the bank's true financial condition by extending new loans to customers who used the funds to maintain existing loans, causing the bank to misrepresent past due and non-performing loans on its books

SIGTARP which investigates fraud, waste, and abuse in connection with TARP, worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and the Office of Inspector General, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the case.  It was brought in coordination with the Obama Administration's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.