Former President & CEO of Monarch Mortgage Sentenced to Prison

NORFOLK, Va. – Edward O. Yoder, 50, of Virginia Beach, the former president and chief executive officer of Monarch Mortgage, which is a part of Monarch Bank in Virginia Beach, was sentenced today to two years in prison for concealing approximately $350,000 in bankruptcy assets. Yoder was also ordered to pay $364,660 in criminal restitution.

Yoder pleaded guilty on Oct. 12, 2016. According to court documents, in 2008 and 2009, Yoder obtained two loans totaling $3 million for a planned residential community in North Carolina. Yoder filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2011, as he was facing two lawsuits in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. Yoder lost his lawsuits and the Bank of Hampton Roads sought to recover the loans that Yoder personally guaranteed. The initial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing listed $2.74 million in assets, which included approximately 133,000 shares of stock in Sirius XM Radio, worth a few hundred thousand dollars. Yoder’s initial Chapter 11 petition was dismissed in early 2012, and in December 2012, Yoder again filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition and a chapter 7 trustee was appointed. During the course of the second bankruptcy petition, Yoder failed to disclose the sale of his Sirius stock, which he discreetly sold in October 2012 for approximately $350,000. On the same day of the sale of Sirius stock, Yoder wired the $350,000 to his Monarch bank account and then transferred the same approximate amount money to girlfriend and co-conspirator Susan Spearman’s Monarch account. Spearman concealed the $350,000 in her account until after Yoder filed his Chapter 7 petition on December 5, 2012. Two weeks later, on December 19, 2012, Spearman, at the behest of Yoder, transferred the $350,000 from her account to her brokerage account with Infinex Financial Group, Virginia Asset Group. Thereafter, from December 19, 2012, to January 24, 2014, Yoder caused Spearman to disburse with bank checks from her brokerage account over $310,000 from Spearman’s brokerage account, for his own benefit and for the benefit of his parents and children.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after the sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:16-cr-83.