Fraud trial of former Wilmington Trust executives begins

(AP) — Jurors are set to hear opening statements and testimony in the federal fraud and conspiracy case against four former executives of Wilmington Trust Corporation.

Former bank president Robert V.A. Harra Jr., and three other former executives are charged with fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to federal regulators.

Prosecutors, who were to begin presenting their case Monday, say Wilmington Trust, through its senior executives, concealed the truth about its imploding commercial real estate loan portfolio before the century-old institution was hastily sold in 2011 as it teetered on the edge of collapse.

The bank itself — the only financial institution to be criminally charged in connection with the federal bank bailout program — reached a $60 million settlement with prosecutors last year just as the trial was set to start.