Banker pleads guilty in scheme that implicates S.F. Giants owner
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Detroit A banker on Wednesday admitted she participated in a criminal conspiracy involving a loan program that prosecutors say helped an owner of the San Francisco Giants reap a $115 million windfall.
Former Sterling Bank & Trust executive YiHou Han, 38, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty to bank and wire fraud conspiracy in federal court in Detroit. She faces up to 30 years in prison but is cooperating with investigators.
The plea deal gives federal investigators a key insider against others implicated in the alleged conspiracy, including Scott Seligman, 69, who is the founder of Sterling Bank & Trust and a minority owner of the Giants baseball team as well as a wealthy scion of a prominent Metro Detroit family active in the sports, art and philanthropic worlds. Seligman has not been charged with wrongdoing.
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Scott Seligman
(DepositPhotos) Sterling Bank & Trust founder Scott Seligman, a minority owner of the San Francisco Giants, is implicated in a major fraud case. Robert Snell of The Detroit News reports that Seligman: Knew about and provided encouragement for a years-long criminal conspiracy involving a loan program that helped his family reap a $115 million windfall, according to federal court records. Seligman has not been charged with wrongdoing, but the alleged conspiracy surfaced in a new criminal case that follows months of questions raised in a separate civil lawsuit about money generated by an initial public offering. The case described by prosecutors includes details about tax cheats, money launderers and bank executives engaged in a scheme that implicates Seligman, 69, the wealthy scion of a prominent Metro Detroit family active in the sports, art and philanthropic worlds.
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