Premier Bank Owners Sentenced for Fraud

WILMETTE, IL - The two owners of the failed Premier Bank in Wilmette pleaded guilty to fraud last month and have both been sentenced.

Zulfikar Esmail, 73 and his wife - 68-year-old Shamim Esmail - each pleaded guilty to financial institution fraud of more than $100,000 and theft of more than $100,000 from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. They were accused of hiding the bank’s poor financial condition from state regulators.

The scheme that reached as high as $6.8 million defrauded resulted in a five-year prison sentence for Zulfikar and two years of probation plus community service for Shamim.

The two were previously found guilty of defrauding another area bank in order to attain an $8.1 million loan, Crain’s originally reported.

More via the Chicago Sun-Times