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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 bank?

THE COURT:

All right.

Have you heard the statement

of the assistant United States attorney? THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT: I'm sorry, Your Honor?

Did you hear what she just said? Oh, absolutely, yes.

THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT:

Is it true? Yes. Why would

THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT: he do this?

Tell me what's missing here.

He's the vice-president of this bank? Yes, Judge, one of the

MR. LeFEVOUR: vice-presidents. MS. STERN:

Vice-president of the loan department.

He was essentially giving loans to customers and falsifying documents. THE COURT: Because what? MS. STERN: THE COURT: For the heck of it? Because he hated his

Was he getting something out of it? Judge, the government -I'm trying to understand this. Should I?

MR. LeFEVOUR: MS. STERN:

Sure. Your Honor, what my client has told

MR. LeFEVOUR:

myself and the government through Miss Stern and the agents, many of these clients were going through difficult times, so he would create these loans in a way that he thought he was helping the clients and the bank by issuing them more money in

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situations where they would not have sufficient collateral or security to get these loans, always with the hope that they would pay off the loans, and, finally, when it came true and the bank did their examinations, they found these loans. It is my understanding and it's been communicated to the government, I think a financial analysis would bear this out, that Mr. Gonsiewski made -- there was no quid pro quo for these loans, he did not make any money from them, but he certainly was involved in the activities that allowed these loans to be created, to be issued, and to be funded. THE COURT: what you did. THE DEFENDANT: Well, Your Honor, it's exactly what All right. Tell me a little bit about

Mr. LeFevour just said that I, I thought I was helping the customer stay afloat, so to speak, as the times got bad and that economically it would improve and everything would go back to a normal situation and those loans would be paid off, times would get better, other property would sell, the bank would not take a loss. But the -So without coercion or anything, you

THE COURT:

freely, falsely created all these documents? THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT: Yes.

Which amounted to fraud on your bank? That's what it amounted to, Your

THE DEFENDANT: Honor.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Honor.

THE COURT:

And you understood that? At the time?

THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT:

Well, you understood that you were

falsely providing documents and that that's why they were loaning more money? THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT: Yes.

That's a summary, I guess. Yes, that's the summary, yes, Your

THE DEFENDANT:

MR. LeFEVOUR:

His defense, Judge, you know, in the

conversations with the government and with his employers was that he always thought that things would get better and that the money would be repaid. It was never where he thought that,

you know, this money was just going to go away. THE COURT: It's a lot of money. I understand that. That was the

MR. LeFEVOUR:

motivation at the time, Judge. THE COURT: understand that. better. MS. STERN: Judge, I believe that he is admitting All right. Well, I was trying to

Okay.

People always think it will get

that he made false representations. THE COURT: Right. I just wanted to understand it.

There seemed to be something missing in the sense of -- I just wasn't understanding exactly what was going on. Was it his

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brother-in-law, was he getting kickbacks? wasn't criminal.

It doesn't mean it But I just

It would be criminal anyway.

wanted to understand what was going on. MR. LeFEVOUR: They were customers, Judge, and

there's no evidence of any kickbacks. THE COURT: All right. That's where we are at.

MR. LeFEVOUR: THE COURT:

A lot of it seemed to be one customer,

but apparently there were others as well. MR. LeFEVOUR: thing. THE COURT: Okay. But no family relations that type of