PHILADELPHIA—Michael Ghabrial, 60, of Martinsville, New Jersey was sentenced today to two years in prison for agreeing to accept bribes as an officer of a bank. Ghabrial pleaded guilty on October 31, 2013 to one count of bank bribery.

Ghabrial was Senior Vice President and Director of Real Estate for Valley National Bank (“VNB”), headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. In that position, Ghabrial handled the sale of numerous bank properties. Ghabrial solicited and accepted a $7,500 bribe in exchange for agreeing to sell real estate property owned by VNB at favorable terms. In total, Ghabrial solicited and agreed to accept over $120,000 in bribes in exchange for the sale of VNB properties.

In addition to the two-year prison term, U.S. District Court Judge J. Curtis Joyner ordered a fine of $10,000, two years of supervised release, a $100 special assessment, and restitution of $7,500.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vineet Gauri.