A bank insider and his co-conspirator admitted to running a nine-year fraud scheme that falsified loan applications to obtain funds.
In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois says that former Tempo Bank senior loan officer Francis Eversman and construction company owner Gregg Crawford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in a scheme that spanned between 2011 and 2020.
Prosecutors say that Crawford recruited straw purchasers to serve as loan applicants in name only for properties that were often extremely overvalued. His brother-in-law, Eversman, would facilitate the approval process of the loans.
Crawford used the proceeds of the loans for purposes other than the purchase of the properties. He also provided fake lease agreements in an effort to show rental income from the properties in question.
When the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency became suspicious of the loans during an audit, Crawford told a straw purchaser to provide the regulator with fraudulent information.
FBI Springfield Assistant Special Agent in Charge Karen Marinos says the duo violated the people’s trust by carrying out self-serving schemes to increase their wealth.
“Every American citizen deserves to walk into their bank and trust the people behind the counter. In southern Illinois, these people are usually our neighbors and friends, people that we trust with our money and wellbeing. “
Eversman and Crawford will be sentenced on October 14th. They face up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and fines of up to $1 million.
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