Former Oppenheimer & Co Inc executive Allen Reichman has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of Oklahoma’s Providence Property and Casualty Insurance Company. Prosecutors and regulators say the scam led to the instantaneous closing of the company. Reichman pleaded guilty earlier this year.
He follows Charles J Antonucci, Sr, Matthew Morris and Wilbur Anthony Huff to prison, each of whom have been sentenced on charges related to the Providence case as well as to other crimes.
Antonucci, in fact, was the first person convicted of defrauding the federal government through the filing of fraudulent applications for assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). He pleaded guilty to stealing $11 million from TARP.
Former Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said in 2010 that the four and others conspired to “loot” Providence through a complex web of deceit that included bribes, phony letters of credit and truly creative accounting practices that enabled the group to mislead regulators about the source of funds being used to purchase Providence, which became insolvent immediately upon consummation of the sale.
The deal, for $37.5 million, was completed in January 2009.
Oppenheimer’s public relations firm did not return an email seeking comment.
