![]() ![]() “It’s going to be a setback in terms of revitalization.”īut it’s hardly the first crisis that Abacus Federal Savings Bank has faced. “In some ways it almost feels like the violence is surpassing the pandemic because of the vaccines coming out,” says Jill Sung, Vera’s younger sister and CEO of the bank. And Chinatown has always been a larger draw, with people living all over the region coming every weekend to go out to eat or shop - weekly visitors now concerned about violent attacks against Asian Americans. In Chinatown and other Chinese immigrant neighborhoods across New York City, businesses that have barely survived their toughest year yet are now opening later in the day or closing earlier just so that workers feel safer commuting. Over the past year, Abacus customers have weathered not only the pandemic - which started earlier in Chinatown due to xenophobia and loss of foot traffic - but also fear of the rising wave of violent attacks against people of Asian descent in the U.S. ![]() That’s where our community is and that’s where they need to go to bank.” “It was never in our thoughts to not have a branch on Eighth Avenue. “We found a new space on a corner, which is actually nicer,” Sung says. That branch had been at the first location since 1993. The main branch made it through the year unscathed, as did all six branches of Abacus Federal Savings Bank - unless you count the fact that a dispute with the landlord over a rent increase at their Brooklyn branch forced them to relocate five blocks away during the pandemic. “I figured if something would happen we just saved the wood and all the materials just in case.” He declined to say whether his office was investigating other banks.“I couldn’t fathom it,” says Sung, who is not technically an employee of the bank herself but sits on its board of directors. “The answer to `why in this case?’ is: Because it had to be done.” “We have to deal with each case on the facts that we have them,” Vance said. The charges entail demonstrating that defendants had criminal intent, made material financial misstatements and other elements. Vance said that while many banks have come under scrutiny from various authorities, prosecutors found in Abacus extensive and powerful proof of a systemic, repeated fraud that rose to the level of crime. “Our conduct in this regard has been exemplary,” Abacus said in a statement that accused prosecutors of overreaching and questioned why a community bank is facing charges “when many other banks that contributed to the national economic crisis remain untouched.” Neither Fannie Mae nor the borrowers were harmed, the bank said, adding that it had eschewed subprime mortgages and other risky lending practices vilified during the financial crisis. The bank is stable, and depositors’ money isn’t at risk, prosecutors said.Ībacus said it was stunned by the charges because it had investigated the matter, informed Fannie Mae and taken action, including firing some employees. ![]() Eleven others, including the bank’s former chief credit officer and loan origination supervisor, were awaiting arraignment Thursday. The bank made millions of dollars in fees off the more than 4,000 dubious loans, prosecutors said.Įight ex-employees already have admitted guilt. Loan processors helped out by calculating how much income the borrowers would need to have in order to qualify, and underwriters approved loans they knew were based on phony data, according to prosecutors. Loan officers coached borrowers - many of whom worked in nail salons, restaurants and other all-cash businesses - on inflating their incomes and job titles and falsifying job-verification forms, prosecutors said. At Abacus, managers created an environment of doctoring mortgage applications to match Fannie Mae criteria, prosecutors said. ![]()
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