WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Jury selection has begun in the federal trial of four former executives of Wilmington Trust charged with fraud.
The process of selecting 12 jurors and six alternates began Monday in a case that led to the demise of the century-old DuPont-founded institution.
Federal prosecutors allege that bank executives hid more than $1 billion in delinquent loans from investors and regulators between 2008 and 2011 as the economy was going into a tailspin.
The now-defunct bank was purchased at a steep discount by Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank. The sale cost shareholders billions of collars and cost Delaware hundreds of jobs.
In 2008, Wilmington Trust received $330 million from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Fund. Prosecutors say the bank fraudulently flouted financial disclosure requirements.
The trial is expected to last about two months.
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