Feds seize three cars from former bank president

Federal agents seized a Brockton former bank president’s three pricey cars — a Rolls Royce, a Lexus and BMW — this afternoon after he failed to repay more than $250,000 in restitution to the FDIC, part of the punishment for a 1997 fraud conviction that symbolized the excesses of the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to the U.S attorney’s office. 

Edward Buchanan, 75, the former president of the Massachusetts Bank & Trust Co., was convicted of defrauding the bank in 1997 and sentenced to 30 months in prison and more than $250,000 in restitution, fines and interest, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Agents today seized a 1987 Rolls Royce Corniche, a 2010 Lexus RX350 and a 2008 BMW 328xi, worth a combined $98,179. 

Buchanan, the former owner, president and chief executive of Massachusetts Bank & Trust, was found guilty of misusing $450,000 in bank funds. The Brockton-based institution was closed by regulators in July 1992. 

The jury found that Buchanan improperly paid salaries and benefits to his two daughters at times they didn’t actually work for the bank, and that he used bank funds to buy and run three cars, including a Mercedes-Benz and a $153,000 Rolls-Royce. 

Bank funds also helped pay crew members’ salaries on a 67-foot yacht Buchanan used for personal pleasure, according to the verdict. 

The jury also found Buchanan guilty of laundering $50,000 the bank had won in a lawsuit. He had the money paid to himself in six checks, each for less than $10,000, to evade currency reporting requirements, prosecutors said at the time. -— brendan.lynch@bostonherald.com 

Source: Biz Smart