executives at faith based bank indicted

[Liberal_in_LA]

2 at Faith-Based Bank Are Indicted Over Bribes

---------

The two executives, Douglas Ballard and Joseph Todd Foster, were charged with conspiracy, insider trading and bank fraud, according to the indictment. Mr. Ballard was also charged with bribery. The developer, Guy Mitchell, who received $80 million in loans, was charged with conspiracy and bribery.

----------------


Founded on Christian principles in 2000 in an Atlanta suburb, Integrity used the motto “In God We Trust.” The bank gave customers free Bibles, and employees prayed together at meetings. Onetime investors included a Georgia state senator and the former CNN host Lou Dobbs.

But in announcing the indictment, the United States attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Mr. Ballard and Mr. Foster had not lived up to the bank’s name or mission.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/business/08bank.html?ref=us

[htuttle]

1. A "faith based bank"? Really?

I'm sorry, but a faith-based BANK???

:rofl:

Seriously?

:rofl:

[notesdev]

2. The truth is

that our whole banking system is faith based.

[metapunditedgy]

3. And our money is too. n/t

[Angry Dragon]

10. I remember reading about one in Minnesota

a couple of years ago. I believe one of its founders was also a politician.

[salin]

14. I thought about that story when I read the thread title.

[salin]

15. It *is* the same story

read the whole thread - tanklv below's post. Note that the founder left the bank a year before the charged fraud, and claims to have lost 22 million.

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Oh yee of little faith...n/t

[napi21]

5. It's AH's like this that turn many people against religion.

They pray together and thieve behind the front door! They're crooks hiding behind a religious facade. I'm Catholic and do my own raying, but I'd rather do business with an honest crook than one who hides behind the cloak of religion of any kind. I did business wiuth a local bank, but they sold to a larger regional bank about 1 1/2 years ago. So far,m I've had no problems, but all I ask of them is online banking, free bill payment,m and don't lose my money. The little that I have in 2 401K's is manage by a brokerage house & I watch them like a hawk!

[GoneOffShore]

20. When you ray do you use a laser or a microwave?

Sorry, it was just too easy.

:hide:

[SergeStorms]

6. Can someone please explain to me....

WHY these churches are still considered tax exempt? They have PACs, lobbyists, they're into banking, securities exchange, they address political issues from the pulpit, yet no one will come out and say what these churches REALLY are: Corporations. They should be taxed as such. But no, despite their assertions that they're victims of "religious persecution" they are allowed to conduct business like any other Fortune 500 company. Come to think of it, very few Fortune 500 companies pay taxes either. :shrug: I guess capitalism is the reigning religion in the US now, and taxes are considered Satan incarnate.

Get behind me, IRS! :eyes:

[malaise]

23. Simple

The sheeple vote for ReTHUGS.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Republicon 'Christian' Wide Stance Family Banking Values

Just as sick and corrupt as every other so-called value these clowns pretend to uphold.

[RagAss]

9. Emphasis on the "Wide Stance".

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[saltpoint]

8. Naming a bank "Integrity" and then commiting (alleged) insider trading and

fraud, is pretty juicy irony.

They could also have called the bank "Eye of the Needle Bank and Trust."

With a really obese camel as their logo.

[tanyev]

11. Props for a clever business strategy.

The planning meeting:

"So, how can we target really gullible people to put their money in this bank?"

"Hey, I've got a great idea!..."



Time magazine, August 9, 2005
Praying for Profits

(in hindsight, perhaps that should be Preying for Profits)


Steven Skow, ceo of faith-based Integrity Bank, has been encouraged by President Bush's emphasis on Christian values: "We're starting to see faith become popular, right up to our leader, the President of the U.S."

Since biblical times,moneylenders have mixed markets with ministry, and Skow, 57, wanted to do so long before he had Bush's endorsement. A 1991 Promise Keepers stadium revival inspired him to begin Bible-study groups at the bank he ran in Minnesota. When the bank was sold in 1998, Skow decided to open a Christian bank. He and his wife researched 122 high-growth markets and came down to Las Vegas and Alpharetta, Ga. They chose Georgia. "I didn't want to go to Sin City, but it's too bad now when I think of it," says Skow. "It probably would have been a good choice to convert a lot of people." He raised $10 million in capital and opened in November 2000.

Skow begins every business day praying with the top officers at his Integrity Bank. At the main branch in Alpharetta, a wood carving of the Prayer of Jabez hangs over the entryway, and Bibles are stacked up in the boardroom. But to attract customers, Integrity doesn't rely on prayer alone; it offers higher-than-average interest rates on CDs and checking accounts and reimburses atm fees charged by other banks. Some 10% of the bank's real estate loans are to churches--which don't get a special deal. Integrity, with $590 million in assets under management, went public in August 2004, its stock shooting up 108% to $24 in late July. "We've been blessed with fast growth and profitability," says Skow, who earned $215,000 last year. "It's not me--it's the people and God's will that have made this thing successful."



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1090905-2,00.html#ixzz0nL97Ikvq

[salin]

16. Good catch.

I remembered the first story - but in my mind the bank was in Minnesota so I didn't tie it together except the similarity of the 'Christian Bank' and the daily prayer sessions. Thanks for the link.

[Ikonoklast]

12. I see a business displaying the fish symbol, I know two things about them.

1. Their service will be shoddy, expensive, and below standard.

2. They screw over their employees harder than they screw their customers.

[xchrom]

13. Awesome! Nt

[salin]

17. Those are sweet sounding words... "former CNN host Lou Dobbs".

[lonestarnot]

18. Anyone who would put money in a place like that must be nuts. Guess they hadn't heard about the

Baptists in AZ. :rofl:

[marmar]

19. "and employees prayed together at meetings"

Not enough, apparently. :)

[malaise]

24. I learned ages ago that those who use religion

to con the gullible usually pray to 'not get caught'. :hi:

[Union Yes]

21. K&R

[Stevenmarc]

22. ROFL "faith based bank" Thou shalt not withdraw early from your CD

[Hubert Flottz]

25. "Founded on Christian principles in 2000 "

The GOPers use the church as a cover for any crooked deed they can cook up. Anybody who believed that George W Bush was living a Christian life, deserved to be screwn.

All the criminals in jail claim they have "Found The Lord" so they can get out sooner to rape, pillage and plunder at will. Politicans do the SAME THING.

[Canuckistanian]

28. "Christian principles", my ass

The FIRST "Christian principle" is "Do unto others as you would you would have them do unto you"

It's funny, when I was a kid, calling someone a "real Christian" meant that the person was humble, charitable and virtuous. Someone who thought of OTHERS before themselves.

This current crop of "Christians" are merely a collection of liars, charlatans, misogynists and hypocritical hedonists like Rekers.

If there IS a Hell, there's a prepaid, non-refundable reservation waiting for them.

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. Banks run by Big Dan Teague, Bible Salesman!

[WhiteTara]

27. most telling phrase...Founded on

Christian principles. Yeah Right. Jesus would definitely go for bribery. :sarcasm:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

29. Our entire system of finance is faith based.

Faith in the system

Faith in regulators

Faith in the people who rate the bonds

Faith that people at the top are governed by some sense of ethics and morals, reason and proportion

OOPS!

[progressoid]

30. Lou Dobbs.

Bwahahahahaha. :rofl: