Former Bank President Sent to Prison Over $3,000,000+ Fraudulent Loans Scheme: Report

The former market president of Morris Bank in Gray will reportedly spend a year and a day behind bars for committing bank fraud.

The Telegraph reports that Alan Childs was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. 

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia spokesperson Melissa Hodges says that the prison term comes with a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Childs conspired with one of his clients, Ronnie Atkinson, who fraudulently cashed out millions in loans from the bank. The timber harvesting company owner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on May 12th.

The scheme began in 2019 when Childs informed Atkinson that he reached the maximum loan threshold for him to approve. Childs’ lending authority was only up to $500,000 per customer and a senior credit officer would have to approve loans that go beyond this limit. 

Childs suggested that a family member could get a loan for him, so Atkinson brought in relatives and friends who served as straw borrowers for his loans.

In March 2021, the bank’s credit administrative officer informed Childs that his customer relationship with Atkinson had exceeded the $500,000 limit. The bank also discovered other loans tied to Atkinson, amounting to $1.6 million, not including the loans related to his relationships.

Childs defended the transactions, arguing that the loans were not related because they had their own repayment sources. He also continued to grant loans to Atkinson’s associates despite delinquency issues. 

Atkinson managed to fraudulently borrow over $3 million from the bank up until August 2022.

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