Real Estate Developer Sentenced For Bank And Loan Fraud

PHILADELPHIA - Michael Pouls, 52, of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for fraudulently inducing two banks to loan him a total of $13.35 million.  Pouls defrauded National Penn Bank in 2007 and the former Wilmington Bank in 2008 by presenting fraudulent securities statements.  He pleaded guilty on December 10, 2012 to one count of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud and two counts of loan fraud.

Pouls signed closing documents on the National Penn loan in November 2007 knowing that the collateral he had pledged – a TD Ameritrade account - had already been depleted. Seven months later, in June 2008, he likewise obtained a second and much larger loan from Wilmington Trust based on the same non-existent collateral, giving both banks negative pledges on the identical phony collateral.  For a period of more than two years, Pouls regularly provided both banks with forged account statements.  In 2010, Pouls asked the banks for even more money and that’s when National Penn discovered the fraud.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond ordered five years of supervised release, restitution/forfeiture in the amount of $11,975,053.80, and a $400 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen Grigsby.