WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Attorneys for Wilmington Trust are asking a federal judge to halt an investor lawsuit stemming from the bank’s collapse until criminal charges against several former executives are resolved.
Wilmington Trust attorneys said in court papers this week that document production in the lawsuit should be put on hold following the recent indictments of four former bank officials, noting their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Former bank president Robert Harra Jr., former chief financial officer David Gibson, former chief credit officer William North and former controller Kevyn Rakowski are charged with fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to federal regulators.
The defendants are accused both criminally and civilly of concealing information about the bank’s deteriorating commercial real estate loan portfolio, which led to its hasty acquisition by M&T Bank in 2011.
