NR 98-84
August 7, 1998
                Banker Who Originated 24 Fictitious Loans
                     Ordered by OCC to Pay $838,670
                                    
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC) today announced that it has ordered Richard
Salmon, former vice president and loan administrator of Bank
of the Desert, N.A. in Indio, Calif., to pay $813,670 in
restitution and a $25,000 civil money penalty for making 24
fictitious loans for his own benefit.

The OCC decision said that Salmon also "engaged in a pattern
of loan-kiting by generating fraudulent loans and then
paying down the illegal loans with proceeds of subsequent
fraudulent loans secured with collateral that either did not
exist or was owned by someone else."  

The OCC found that "by forging signatures, falsifying loan
documents, and converting loan proceeds for his personal
benefit over a four-year period, (Salmon) showed an
indifference to the law and safe and sound banking practices
that constitutes reckless disregard for the law."  On July
27, the Federal Reserve Board barred Salmon from
participating in the affairs of any insured financial
institution.  That action followed an opinion by an
administrative law judge based on charges brought by the
OCC.

The OCC found that between 1992 and 1996, Salmon originated
fictitious loans totaling $1.9 million and converted the
proceeds of the loans for his personal benefit.  Some of
those sums were recovered.  The bank was dissolved following
a merger in 1996.

The administrative law judge that heard the case found that
Salmon used the proceeds from his scheme to pay his home
mortgage, purchase two luxury cars and pay off personal
debt.

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The OCC charters, regulates and examines approximately 2,600 national banks
and 62 federal branches and agencies of foreign banks in the United States,
accounting for 58 percent of the nation's banking assets.  Its mission is to
ensure a safe, sound and competitive national banking system that supports the
citizens, communities and economy of the United States.