Opinion ID: 741804
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Bank Bribery

Text: 43 Pyatt and Atterberry challenge their convictions, under Counts II, III, and IV, for bank bribery, 18 U.S.C. § 215. 6 The basis of these charges was the $50,000 signing bonus to Van Brocklin and the two payments of $230,000 and $750,000 from the FWMC loan closings. Defendants contend that the government failed to prove that the payments to Van Brocklin were anything other than bona fide compensation pursuant to his employment agreement with FNF. The evidence showed that Pyatt and Atterberry negotiated the loan transactions with Van Brocklin, and that their offer for the FWMC loans dropped from 81 cents to 70 cents after RTC agent Jones told Van Brocklin 70 cents was a fair price. Van Brocklin failed to inform either the bank directors or OTS of the 81 cent offer. Van Brocklin did not disclose the payments from FNF. The two checks to Van Brocklin from the FWMC loan proceeds were made out to First National Funding, Inc. rather than to him, which the government argued indicated an attempt to conceal those payments. Van Brocklin allowed FNF to buy only a portion of the FWMC portfolio, and Pyatt and Atterberry obtained quick and sizeable profits from the transactions, which they shared with Van Brocklin. This evidence would allow a reasonable jury to agree with the government's theory that Pyatt and Atterberry paid Van Brocklin in exchange for allowing them to cherry-pick the FWMC loans. The convictions are affirmed. 44