The founder and former president of a community bank has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for bank fraud and money laundering.
The sentence given 58-year-old James Ladio on Monday was what prosecutors sought. Defense attorneys had asked that he be spared from prison time.
Ladio, the former head of MidCoast Community Bank, pleaded guilty last December. Two months later, former Wilmington Trust executive Brian Bailey was charged with scheming with Ladio to make improper loans to each other over more than a decade.
Bailey is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
Bailey and Ladio are among several individuals charged with crimes amid an ongoing federal investigation into lending practices at Wilmington Trust prior to its failure and hasty acquisition by M&T Bank Corp. in 2011.
