Financial Services

Former Co-Op Bank chairman pleads guilty

Paul Flowers was fined £525 after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine, crystal meth

Paul Flowers, former chairman of Co-Operative Bank Plc, center, arrives at Leeds Magistrates Court in Leeds, UK, this morning. Flowers, the former chairman of Co-Operative Bank, appeared at court charged with possession of cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine, almost a month after the lender said it would post a full-year loss of as much as £1.3 billion pounds. Photograph: Paul Thomas/Bloomberg

Wed May 7 2014 - 12:00

Paul Flowers, the former chairman of Co-Operative Bank Plc, was fined £525 pounds after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine.

Flowers, a Methodist minister, admitted to the charges at a hearing in Leeds, England, today. He was arrested in November after he was filmed buying crack cocaine by a UK newspaper and charged by prosecutors last month.

Flowers apologised for his conduct in a statement after his arrest last year, saying there had been a death in the family and pressures related to the bank. Co-Operative Group, the lender’s parent, ceded control of the bank to bondholders in October to help plug a £1.5 billion capital shortfall.

Flowers was Co-Op Bank’s chairman from March 2010 until June of last year.

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