{"id":334888,"date":"2010-02-18T09:46:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T14:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/?p=19831"},"modified":"2010-02-18T09:46:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T14:46:46","slug":"sixteen-indicted-in-missouri-in-10-million-bank-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/334888","title":{"rendered":"Sixteen indicted in Missouri in $10 million bank fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SPRINGFIELD, MO &#8212; Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District   of Missouri, announced today that two former bank vice presidents and the former   branch manager of the Small Business Administration\u2019s office in Springfield are   among 16 defendants who have been indicted in five separate but related cases   for their involvement in a bank fraud scheme that took advantage of business   loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n<p>According   to the indictments, the bank fraud scheme involved at least 31 fraudulent   business loans, ranging from $100,000 to $1.6 million, issued by Mid-America   Bank and Trust Company (MABTC) in Pulaski County, Mo., between January 2005 and   January 2007. The fraudulent loans cited in the indictments total more than   $10.1 million.<\/p>\n<p>George G. Spencer, 53, and Dennis K. DePriest, 55,   both of Ozark, Mo., Larry Steven Aduddle, 63, of Springfield, Mo., Richard N.   DeLong, 44, of Newburg, Mo., Melinda L. Reese, 37, of Dixon, Mo., Gerald E.   Harris, 68, of Edgar Springs, Mo., Michael Edward Clegg, 48, of St. Robert, Mo.,   his daughter, Andrea M. Clegg, 25, of Laquey, Mo., Perris D. Rask, 67, of   Licking, Mo., Keith David Miller, 54, of Republic, Mo., and Lindell L. Vawter,   65, of Rock Island, Ill., were charged in a 185-count indictment returned under   seal by a federal grand jury on Feb. 5, 2010. That indictment was unsealed and   made public today upon the arrest and initial court appearance of   DePriest. <span id=\"more-19831\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>DeLong was executive vice-president and chief lending   officer at MABTC during the course of the alleged conspiracy. Reese was   vice-president and loan compliance officer at MABTC from 1998 through May 2008.   Aduddle was the branch manager of the Small Business Administration\u2019s   Springfield office from March 21, 2005, to May 21, 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Several   of the defendants were business owners. Rask owned Circle R Saloon, Inc., which   ran the Rockin R Saloon and Adonia\u2019s Steak and Seafood in St. Robert. Vawter   owned and operated Vawter, Inc., doing business as A&amp;W Root Beer\/Long John   Silver\u2019s restaurant in St. Robert.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Clegg was president of Heintz   Lighting One and Appliance, Inc. Miller owned and operated RadiusCom   Corporation, which provided wireless Internet service in Republic, Missouri.   Harris owned Harris Land Development, LLC and Gerald Harris Construction,   Inc.<\/p>\n<p>In separate but related cases, Daniel J. Metz, 65, of Eldon,   Mo., Randall S. Rogers, 41, of Springfield, Mo., and Catherine S. Debar, 42, of   Rolla, Mo., were charged in three separate indictments that were returned by a   federal grand jury in Springfield on Dec. 17, 2009.<\/p>\n<p>In each case, the   indictments allege, the defendants were nominee borrowers\u2014that is, borrowers in   name only, for loans that were secretly for the benefit of others.<\/p>\n<p>They   allegedly claimed the loans would be used for legitimate business purposes, when   in reality the loans were made to benefit others and for other   purposes.<\/p>\n<p>In another related case, James Stewart Dunlop, Jr.,   also known as \u201cStu,\u201d 55, of Springfield, Mo., was charged in an indictment   returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Dec. 17, 2009.<\/p>\n<p>In this case,   the indictment alleges that Dunlop concealed his ineligibility for a Small   Business Administration loan and that he conducted financial transactions to   conceal the proceeds of the related bank fraud scheme.<\/p>\n<p>The   indictment that was unsealed today alleges that, beginning in January 2005,   Spencer, DePriest, Aduddle and DeLong participated in a conspiracy to obtain   loans from MABTC and to defraud the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Those loans,   according to the indictment, were guaranteed by the Small Business   Administration under federal loan programs that were designed to provide   financial assistance to small businesses.<\/p>\n<p>They and the other eight co-defendants   in this indictment are also charged with participating in a bank fraud scheme to   fraudulently obtain loans from MABTC.<\/p>\n<p>According to the   indictment, Spencer and DePriest assisted DeLong as consultants to Michael   Clegg, Vawter and Rask, each of whom controlled failing businesses and had   outstanding MABTC loans with significant past due balances.<\/p>\n<p>DeLong allegedly   made loans and issued lines of credit to nominee borrowers, including entities   controlled by Spencer, Harris and Boothe, in order to conceal unbooked letters   of credit that he had issued in the name of MABTC.<\/p>\n<p>DeLong allegedly made   additional loans to nominee borrowers including Rogers, Metz and Debar in order   to conceal improvident loans, previously made nominee loans and nominee lines of   credit, and to cure overdrafts.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the conspiracy, the   indictment alleges that DeLong made false entries in the records of MABTC to   conceal disbursements of bank funds and past due loan payments of distressed   borrowers. DeLong allegedly structured loans to avoid scrutiny of those loans by   the MABTC board of directors.<\/p>\n<p>According to the indictment,   Spencer, DePriest, and others organized limited liability companies solely as   nominee borrowers, the indictment says, and recruited nominee borrowers to   funnel MABTC loan proceeds that were guaranteed by the Small Business   Administration to themselves and others.<\/p>\n<p>DeLong allegedly   requested Small Business Administration guarantees of MABTC loans made to   nominee borrowers recruited by Spencer and DePriest. DeLong allegedly signed   fraudulent Small Business Administration loan authoriziations for MABTC loans   whose proceeds ultimately benefitted Spencer, DePriest and others.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the conspiracy, the indictment alleges that Spencer, DePriest and   Dunlop prepared fraudulent Small Business Administration borrower applications   for submission to the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n<p>DeLong and others   misapplied MABTC loan proceeds, some of which were guaranteed through Small   Business Administration loan programs, by diverting those proceeds to Spencer,   DePriest, and others.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment also alleges that Spencer   paid a $7,500 bribe to DeLong in order to receive a $195,000 business loan from   MABTC.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment charges various defendants in a total of   185 counts of making false bank entries, making false statements to MABTC,   making false statements to the Small Business Administration, bank bribery, bank   fraud, misapplication of loan funds, false bank entries and money   laundering.<\/p>\n<p>In separate indictments, Metz and Debar are each   charged with two counts of making a\u00a0 false statement to MABTC in connection with   a loan. Rogers and Dunlop are each charged with one count of making a false   statement to MABTC in connection with a loan.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers is also charged with one   count of money laundering. Dunlop is also charged with two counts of money   laundering.<\/p>\n<p>Phillips cautioned that the charges contained in   these indictments are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence   supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is   to determine guilt or innocence.<\/p>\n<p>These cases are being prosecuted   by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Oliver. They were investigated   by the Small Business Administration \u2013 Office of Inspector General and the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>Distributed via <a href=\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\" rel='nofollow'>Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/KQABLLE995GvKRMVL5eRCu1j9XA\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/KQABLLE995GvKRMVL5eRCu1j9XA\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/KQABLLE995GvKRMVL5eRCu1j9XA\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/KQABLLE995GvKRMVL5eRCu1j9XA\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=OPpwOkXR1ho:H_2i9Cb-pC8:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=OPpwOkXR1ho:H_2i9Cb-pC8:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=OPpwOkXR1ho:H_2i9Cb-pC8:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?i=OPpwOkXR1ho:H_2i9Cb-pC8:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/windycitynews\/~4\/OPpwOkXR1ho\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPRINGFIELD, MO &#8212; Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that two former bank vice presidents and the former branch manager of the Small Business Administration\u2019s office in Springfield are among 16 defendants who have been indicted in five separate but related cases for their involvement in a bank [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}