Auyer testifies before grand jury
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Anthony Auyer of Huntsville, Ala., testified in a closed grand jury session Tuesday in Chattanooga, according to a report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Directors of a bank co-owned by the lieutenant governor were also questioned by the grand jury Tuesday.
BankTennessee chairman Joel Porter of Memphis said Wednesday that several directors ?did go to Chattanooga yesterday at the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary S. Humble to try to clear up some questions about a loan made several years ago to a customer? of the bank, The Tennessean reported.
Porter declined to say how many directors testified or whether Wilder was among them.
?We did answer the questions that Humble had,? Porter said.
The prosecutor said during Auyer?s sentencing Monday that more charges were expected.
Auyer and his wife, Teresa R. Auyer, pleaded guilty to bank fraud, money-laundering conspiracy, money laundering and wire fraud on the eve of a scheduled April trial. A jury acquitted a co-defendant, real estate appraiser Jimmy Passons of McMinnville, of charges he inflated the valuation of the lumber mill property that Cooper, D-McMinnville, sold to the Auyers in 1999.
Anthony Auyer?s attorney, Kristie Luffman, declined to comment Tuesday about the grand jury testimony, but said Auyer ?will be completely truthful with whatever questions the U.S. attorney asks.?
Teresa Auyer?s attorney, Bill Speek, said Wednesday he could not say if his client testified. ?My client has been in a position where she is willing to provide whatever information she has,? Speek said.
The indictment contends an unindicted co-conspirator ?used his political contacts, connections and influence? to help Anthony Auyer obtain a $1.77 million federally insured loan from BankTennessee.
The sale was accompanied by a commitment from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development that a grant would be issued to Auyer to build a rail spur, records show.
State officials said the spur was never built.
?What happened here is he (Auyer) got in over his head … probably didn?t know what he was doing and took the easy way out,? U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar said as he sentenced the couple Monday. ?I am bothered a bit that some other folks who are the instigators may get by without being sanctioned.?
Edgar sentenced Auyer to 34 months in prison and his wife, who handled financial transactions for her husband?s rail tie business, to 18 months. The sentences were less than federal guidelines, and the judge allowed them each 30 days to report.
Cooper?s attorney, Jerry Summers, has said Humble identified Cooper as a ?potential target.?
Passons? attorney, Mike Galligan, said at the trial that while Humble was talking about political influence in the borrowing scheme, the government decided to go after the ?little appraiser.?
Galligan said Wednesday that if his client is subpoenaed, Passons ?will testify just as he did in his own trial.?