Major Bergen Developer Charged In Baking Loan Scheme

A major Bergen County real estate developer was charged Tuesday for his role in a scheme to obtain loans from an Edgewater bank he was the former CEO of, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Fred Daibes, 61, the former CEO and chairman of the board of directors at Mariner's Bank, and Michael McManus, the CFO of Daibes Enterprises, were charged by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to misapply bank funds and make false entries to deceive a financial institution and the FDIC, Carpenito announced.

Daibes founded Mariner's Bank and served as chairman of the board of directors until April 2011. The federal government limited the amount of money that the bank could lend to a single borrower while he was chairman, Carpentio said.

From January 2008 and December 2013, Daibes, McManus, and others allegedly orchestrated a loan scheme to circumvent the federal government's limits by ensuring millions of dollars in loans went from the people receiving them to Daibes, who allegedly hid his interests in those loans from the bank and the FDIC.

Daibes allegedly recruited people, called nominees, to lie and omit information to Mariner's Bank to obtain the loans, including hiding that Daibes was the true beneficiary of the loan. After they got the loan, the nominees distributed the money to Daibes, Carpenito said.

Daibes and the nominees also did not disclose to Mariner’s Bank that, in certain instances, Daibes pledged the collateral for the loans, while, in other cases, he arranged to make both the interest and principal payments on the loans, Carpenito said.

In order to convince Mariner’s Bank to approve two of the loans, McManus signed and provided to Mariner’s Bank a false certification attesting to the profitability of gas stations that two of the nominees had pledged as collateral after purchasing them from Daibes in sham transactions, Carpenito said.

After the FDIC investigated one of the loans, Daibes, McManus, and others created and gave a backdated sales contract to them to make it look like one of the nominees had obtained one of the loans from Mariner’s Bank in order to pay Daibes for his interest in a real estate venture, Carpenito said.

Daibes was also charged with five counts of misapplying bank funds, six counts of making false entries to deceive a financial institution and the FDIC, and causing reliance on a false document to influence the FDIC.

Larry Lustberg, Esq., Daibes' attorney, called the indictment failed against his client "completely unjustified, both legally and factually."

"The U.S. Attorney is well aware, after a 6-year investigation, that there is no victim, no deception, and no fraud. Mariner’s Bank is owned by Mr. Daibes and the government knows he invested millions of dollars into the Bank during the course of this investigation," Lustberg said in a statement issued after the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the indictments. "The notion that he defrauded himself is patently ridiculous and every penny of every loan has been paid back. I am completely confident that Mr. Daibes’ name will be cleared."

McManus, 61, of Madison, was charged with four counts of misapplying bank funds, two counts of loan application fraud, making false entries to deceive a financial institution and the FDIC, and causing reliance on a false document to the influence the FDIC, Carpenito announced.

Daibes faces a maximum of 35 years in federal prison and fines of up to $1.25 million. McManus faces a maximum 65 years in federal prison and fines of up to $2.25 million.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

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