{"id":57235,"date":"2024-08-15T13:17:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57235"},"modified":"2024-08-15T13:19:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:19:30","slug":"former-attorney-sentenced-to-25-years-in-federal-prison-on-embezzlement-and-fraud-charges-in-connection-with-collapse-of-washington-federal-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57235","title":{"rendered":"Former Attorney Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison on Embezzlement and Fraud Charges in Connection With Collapse of Washington Federal Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"TwoA former attorney has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for embezzlement and fraud in connection with the failure of Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Chicago, officials announced Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Robert M. Kowalski played a key role in an embezzlement scheme at Washington Federal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bank, which was based in Chicago\u2019s Bridgeport neighborhood, was shut down in 2017 after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency determined that it was insolvent and had at least $66 million in nonperforming loans.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the money was transferred to Kowalski, a licensed attorney at the time, and two real estate developers without all of the required documentation, and often without any documentation whatsoever.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The embezzled funds were falsely identified in the bank\u2019s records as loan disbursements, even though the bank never required Kowalski to repay the money.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the collapse of the bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. attempted to collect the money and properties that Kowalski obtained as part of the embezzlement scheme.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Kowalski responded by filing a fraudulent bankruptcy case in which he attempted to conceal his possession of numerous assets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kowalski filed false corporate and personal tax returns for several years to substantiate numerous misrepresentations in his bankruptcy filings and avoid paying taxes.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

He also failed to file any returns at all for two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kowalski, 62, of Robbins, Ill., was convicted of embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud, and tax fraud charges last year.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall on Tuesday ordered Kowalski to pay restitution of $7.2 million to the FDIC and $424,047 to the IRS.<\/span><\/p>\n

The federal criminal investigation into the bank\u2019s collapse led to charges against a total of 16 defendants, including the bank\u2019s Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and other high-ranking employees.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Four defendants were convicted after jury trials, while ten pleaded guilty and two entered into deferred prosecution agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Kowalski\u2019s sister, Jan Kowalski, also formerly an attorney, pleaded guilty and is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for fraudulently enabling her brother to conceal more than $357,000 from creditors and the trustee in his bankruptcy case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO A former attorney has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for embezzlement and fraud in connection with the failure of Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Chicago, officials announced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Attorney Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison on Embezzlement and Fraud Charges in Connection With Collapse of Washington Federal Bank<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CHICAGO A former attorney has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for embezzlement and fraud in connection with the failure of Washington Federal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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