Disgraced former Keys banker Williams out of custody

Once-prominent Florida Keys banker Jerry Williams was released from a federal halfway house on Oct. 30, almost closing the books on a story in which he admitted to fraud that brought down a bank and landed him in federal prison for six years.

Williams, the former chief executive of Orion Bank, founded in Marathon as First National Bank of the Florida Keys, served out the last six months of his sentence at the halfway house, which federal authorities never identified. He served his prison time at a federal lockup in Montgomery, Ala.

Orion Bank, which had moved its headquarters to Naples, had 23 branches when federal regulators shut it down late 2009. IberiaBank took it over.

Williams, 57, was sentenced to the six years in 2012. He had faced 15 years. Three other defendants received lesser sentences.

“Williams admitted to orchestrating a complex scheme that illegally raised more capital for Orion, which has since been taken over by IberiaBank, and sold off bad loans to a borrower to make his failing bank appear in better financial shape than it was,” according to the Naples Daily News. “More than $80 million in loans were made to Francesco Mileto, who was over his loan limit, with $15 million returned to the bank for the illegal purchase of stock.”

Williams will now be on supervised release for three years.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Disgraced former Keys banker Williams out of custody."