ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200057
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
Fraud scheme costs Signet $81 million
RICHMOND - Signet Banking Corp. apparently lost $81 million in a fraud scheme that involved other banking companies and totaled $173 million, the company and federal investigators said Tuesday.
The Richmond-based banking company said it made the loans to two people who used forged documents and posed as employees of ``a Fortune 100 corporation, well known to Signet.''
FBI agents arrested a man and a woman in the New York City area on bank fraud charges Tuesday, said Robert W. Jaspen, an assistant U.S. Attorney in Richmond. Edward J. Reiners and Judy Rose Bachiman could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine if they are convicted of the charges, he said.
Signet participated in $81 million worth of loans and offered other financial institutions the opportunity to pick up the remaining $92 million. A Signet spokeswoman declined to identify the other banks or say how many other banks were involved.
The transactions were to finance computer equipment leases, Signet said.
Signet, an $11 billion banking company with offices in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, said it is ``assessing the potential for loss under its $81 million exposure.''
- Associated Press
Quitting CEO sells his stock to Best
RICHMOND - The top executive of Richmond-based Best Products Co. Inc., sold his entire holding of company stock to the retailer for nearly $1 million days before Best announced his departure.
The Feb. 2 sale, made public Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission report, was part of a severance agreement Best reached with Stewart M. Kasen.
Kasen, 56, sold his 233,530 shares for $977,906, at $4.19 per share. He also gave up options to buy 317,000 shares.
The value of Best's stock, traded on the Nasdaq, has fallen nearly 40 percent in 45 days. It closed Tuesday at $2 13/16, down 3/16.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
American Furniture Distributors, a new company formed by Nyle and Troy Vernon, is opening a store at 251 Wildwood Road, Salem. The Vernons, formerly with Furniture Galleries, plan to open the 8,200-square-foot building about April 11. The store will feature such brands as Jettson, Park Place, Sumter, Crawford, Lexington and Kingsdown.
Unifi Inc., a yarn company in Staunton, will lay off 230 workers next month because it is moving some of its operation to North Carolina. Unifi will keep 130 employees at the Staunton plant, but the rest of the work will go to a plant in Yadkinville, N.C. Robert A. Ward, general manager of the Greensboro, N.C.-based company, cited higher operating and transportation costs.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB