First Vietnamese American Bank one time Director, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Lending Officer Walter Hannen co-conspirator Samuel T. Currin, a one time United States Attorney and North Carolina Superior Court Judge, sentenced to 70 months in federal prison.

Samuel T. Currin, 58 of Raleigh, North Carolina, served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 1981 to 1987 and a North Carolina Superior Court Judge from 1987 to 1990.

On September 5, 2007 Mr. Currin was sentenced to 70 months - 5 years and 10 months - in federal prison.

His sentence is the result of him entering a guilty plea to three charges, the first of which is conspiring to use his law firm's client trust account to conspire to launder about $ 1.35 million that he had obtained as the result of a securities fraud scheme. The second one is obstruction of the investigation by a grand jury into both the securities fraud and the money laundering and the third is interfering with the workings of the IRS by not disclosing an offshore debit card account that he had control off and contained thousands of dollars, on his income tax. 

In the Bill of Information under which he was charged and pleaded guilty, it states that a group which included on of the clients of his law firm, conducted a scheme to fraudulently manipulate the prices of several publicly traded stocks by the means of spam e mails, mass fax blasts, internet searches, and voice mail broadcasting.

As a result of this scheme they were able to accumulate literally tens of millions of dollars. Currin entered into a conspiracy with the others in order to launder the money through the firm's account. For is part in the money laundering, he received more than $280,000. It also states that he opened an Anguillan company and then used a foreign bank to open a debit card account in the company's name. He then received thousands of dollars into the account, but he did not bother listing them on his 2004 income tax return.

In December of 2005, he was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury that was investigating the securities fraud and money laundering scheme. Before he appeared, he entered into a conspiracy with a Lawyer in Raleigh, R. Shawn Wellons, to withhold documents from the grand jury and to also give false testimony. The two of them appeared before the grand jury and both committed perjury by denying that he had any offshore dealings.

FDIC Order to CEASE and DESIST in the matter of First Vietnamese American Bank Docket FDIC-08-365b

The FDIC Enforcement Decisions and Orders (ED&O) contains the full text of the formal enforcement actions against financial institutions that are regulated by the FDIC or against their affiliated parties. The ED&O is updated on a monthly basis.

The fist order (15 pages long) to Cease and Desist issued by the FDIC to First Vietnamese American Bank was issued on 12/22/2006.  The Bank opened its doors in mid 2005 to great fanfare.  The FDIC considered the matter and determined that it had reason to believe that the Bank had engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices and had committed violations of law and/or regulations. The FDIC, therefore, accepted the CONSENT AGREEMENT and issued the following:  http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/2006-12-03.pdf

ABOUT US (from First Vietnamese American Bank www.FVAB.com site)

Welcome to First Vietnamese American Bank! Whether you're visiting our site for the first time or you're a frequent online customer, we appreciate your interest and business. You'll find a variety of products and solutions to meet your banking needs right here. We will make your every experience with FVAB.com very satisfying and more than worth your time.


Our name says it all. We are the FIRST Vietnamese bank here in America. We invite you to experience "coming home" - to be served by people who truly care about you and the well-being of the community. We believe that our community is best served by an independent, locally managed community bank. On behalf of our staff, management, directors and shareholders, we look forward to serving your many banking needs today and in years to come.

Our goal has never been to be the biggest bank serving our community, just the best, every day and in every way. We intend to remain independent, with community-oriented leadership, unequaled person-to-person service, great products and services with the best interest of our customers and stockholders always in mind.

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FVAB Management Team

FVAB Mission Statement

Our Mission is to provide personalized service and expert knowledge through a wide range of banking products, while being sensitive and responsive to the cultural dynamics and financial needs of the communities we serve.

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First Vietnamese American Bank (FVAB) serves the diverse needs of many ethnic groups who live and work in Southern California, including those with Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Hispanic ethnic ties.

We are a diverse group of banking professionals with many years of experience who can work with you to manage your business needs.