ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030026
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WHITE PLAINS, N. Y.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A former Philip Morris employee accused of duping at least six banks in four countries out of millions of dollars has agreed to return to Virginia to face fraud charges.
Edward Reiners, 51, of Somers, waived extradition late Monday before U.S. Magistrate Mark D. Fox in U.S. District Court in White Plains, said a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.
Reiners, who was held without bail in New York, will be taken to Virginia as soon as the trip can be arranged, said the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Within seven days of his return, he likely will face a preliminary hearing in federal court in Richmond, authorities said.
According to an FBI affidavit, Signet Banking Corp., NationsBank Corp. and other banking companies, including CoreStates, Bank of Montreal, Credit Anstaldt of Austria and Hitachi American Credit and Long Term Credit Bank of Japan approved loans totaling $323.5 million.
Reiners, who worked in Philip Morris' information systems division in Rye Brook, N.Y., until 1992, is accused of posing as a Philip Morris executive to convince the banks that the company needed loans to finance computers for a super-secret cigarette research and development project. The FBI and Philip Morris said there is no such project.
Richmond-based Signet said it had approved $81 million in loans for Reiners. NationsBank, based in Charlotte, N.C., had agreed to provide more than $60 million in financing. The FBI and the banks said they expect to recover much of the money.
Nelco Ltd., a small Richmond computer company the FBI said also had been tricked in the scheme, last week filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection because of losses it claims it suffered.
Reiners was arrested March 19 with an alleged accomplice, Judy R. Bachiman. If convicted, they could get up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Bachiman, 38, of Cliffside Park, N.J., was released earlier on a $40,000 bond and was to arrange her own surrender in Virginia.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB