US: A divorcee’s default and a bank’s demise
US: A divorcee’s default and a bank’s demise
Sep 12, 2011 6
Bankrupt socialite Patricia Kluge’s financial collapse has spread to Richmond.
An $8.2 million loan made to Kluge’s ill-fated real estate development Vineyard Estates went up in smoke, and now two Virginia banks and the FDIC are sorting through the ashes in federal court. (To get caught up on the Kluge saga, read this neat story from Charlottesville.)
Kluge, who was once known as the wealthiest divorcee in history, had planned to compliment her wine business with upscale homes.
The story, which began in 2007, illustrates how loans that many banks thought were safe bets during boom times have gone belly-up and how too many of those hits caused Richmond-based Virginia Business Bank to fail and be taken over by regulators in July.
Comments