January 14, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact MARCIA MURPHY

www.justice.gov/usao/md at (410) 209-4854

Baltimore, Maryland – Brian Thomas Twilley, 57, of Greenbackville, Virginia, formerly of Salisbury, Md., Pleaded guilty yesterday to making a false statement on a loan or credit application.

The guilty plea was announced by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Robert W. Manchak of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of the Inspector General (FHFA OIG); and Special Agent in Charge Shimon R. Richmond of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Inspector General (FDIC OIG).

From 2011 to 2015, Brian Twilley was a member of the board of directors of Hebron Savings Bank, located in Wicomico County, Maryland. Twilley also owned a commercial printing business in County Wicomico and was a faculty member in the Department of Economics and Finance at Salisbury University.

According to her guilty plea, from April 2010 to March 2017, Twilley provided false personal financial statements to Hebron that omitted from her equity a $ 200,000 Home Equity Line of Credit (“HELOC”) owed to the bank. 2 which should have been reimbursed and closed with the proceeds of a separate HELOC which Twilley had obtained from Hebron. Twilley also provided false personal financial statements to Bank 3.

As detailed in its plea agreement, in August 2006, Hebron issued Twilley a $ 350,000 HELOC for the purpose of paying and closing his $ 200,000 HELOC at Bank 2. As part of the approval by Hebron of the HELOC, he demanded that Bank 2 release its lien on Twilley’s personal property. residence so that Hebron can obtain a first position lien on this guarantee. On August 28, 2006, Twilley signed a letter to Bank 2 directing them to accept repayment of the loan, close the HELOC account and forward the release documents to Hebron. The repayment was funded by a cashier’s check issued by Hebron in the amount of $ 200,392.04, but the letter ordering Bank 2 to close the loan was never delivered and the HELOC account at Bank 2 remained open. Twilley admitted that he continued to withdraw funds available in Bank 2’s HELOC and that in 2010 he had withdrawn all of the available $ 200,000.

As a member of Hebron’s board of directors and as a condition of her continuing loan relationship with Hebron, which included the $ 350,000 HELOC and several business loans, Twilley was to provide Hebron with an annual personal net worth statement. Twilley admitted that from 2010 to 2014, he provided Hebron with his personal financial statement, but failed to disclose the continued existence of the HELOC with Bank 2, which Hebron said had been closed since 2006.

Additionally, in December 2014, as part of an application to renew a $ 100,000 commercial line of credit for her business from Bank 3, Twilley submitted a personal financial statement to Bank 3 which did not disclose not the existence of HELOC with bank 2 and debt. When Twilley was asked by a representative of Bank 3 as to why his credit report reflected a $ 200,000 HELOC owed to Bank 2 that was not on his net worth statement, Twilley falsely informed that the HELOC Bank 2 had been closed when it opened HELOC in Hebron. Bank 3 representative informed Twilley that Hebron might want to contact Bank 2 to ask them to close the HELOC because Hebron’s secured position in the collateral could be behind Bank 2 if the lien was not released.

Twilley stepped down as a member of the Hebron board in 2015. In 2017, Twilley was having difficulty repaying debts and Hebron attempted to restructure its loan repayments. As part of the negotiations, on March 17, 2017, Twilley again sent a personal financial statement to Hebron which did not disclose the existence of its debt owed on the HELOC with Bank 2, which then had a balance of around 176 $ 000, thus underestimating the overdue obligations. When a representative later suggested that the collateral for HELOC Hebron be sold, he learned that Bank 2 still had a first position lien on the property because the HELOC with Bank 2 had never been closed. . In July 2018, Twilley declared bankruptcy and Hebron restructured all of Twilley’s personal and business debts. In November 2018, the HELOC collateral was sold and $ 163,081.88 of the proceeds was paid to Bank 2 as the first lien holder, depriving Hebron of the proceeds from the sale.

As part of his plea deal, Twilley will be required to pay restitution of $ 163,081.88, the full amount of the victim’s loss.

Twilley faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for making a false statement on a loan or credit application. Actual sentences for federal crimes are generally less than maximum sentences and are determined by a judge in a federal district court after taking into account US sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has yet to set a sentencing date for Twilley.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the BIG FHFA and BIG FDIC for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean R. Delaney, who is pursuing the case.

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