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Former Rural Bank Executives Charged with Bank Fraud and Lying to FBI

 

Former Rural Bank Executives Charged with Bank Fraud and Lying to FBI

Minneapolis - Two former executives at the State Bank of Cokato were charged today in federal court in connection with various loan fraud schemes. A criminal Information filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office charges the bank’s former president and director, Robert N. Aanenson, age 52, of Dassel, Minnesota, with one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false entry in a bank report. A second Information charges the bank’s former executive vice president, Donald J. Peroutka, age 63, of Cokato, Minnesota, with one count of lying to an FBI agent who was investigating fraud at the bank.

According to the Information filed in the Robert N. Aanenson matter, Aanenson approved a $65,000 loan to Moldserv, Inc., (“Moldserv”) in September of 2003 for the purported purpose of providing the company with “working capital.” The Information alleges, however, that the loan was not really for Moldserv. Rather, the Information states that the loan was actually intended to benefit a company known as Plastic Solutions. Just three days after Moldserv received the loan proceeds, $65,000 was transferred to Plastic Solutions. A portion of that money was then used to cover a $47,802 deficit in Plastic Solutions’ checking account, which had been overdrawn for months. The remainder of the money was used for other unauthorized purposes. No payments were ever made on the loan, and in October of 2004, the bank wrote off the debt as uncollectible.

The charging document also alleges that in July of 2004, Aanenson directed a bank employee to credit Plastic Solutions' checking account with $92,669.17. At that time, the account was almost $150,000 overdrawn. In addition, Aanenson directed the same bank employee to credit Moldserv’s checking account with $10,242.10, which was the amount that account was overdrawn. Aanenson offset these false transactions by having the bank’s prepaid expense account debited by $100,000 and the account for overdraft charges debited by $2,911.27. As a result of these actions, the bank’s quarterly report to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, filed in October of 2004, was inaccurate in that it failed to disclose a substantial loss.

The Information filed against Donald J. Peroutka alleges that he lied to an FBI agent about a different loan fraud scheme in which he participated in the summer of 2003. According to that charging document, Peroutka executed an authorization for a guaranteed Small Business Administration ("SBA") loan for a bank customer. As a condition of that guarantee, Peroutka agreed in writing that the bank would ensure that the customer had put into her small business at least $50,000 from other sources before the SBA loan was awarded. A short time later, however, the bank loaned the customer the $50,000 necessary to inject into her business in order to meet the SBA guaranteed loan requirements. That $50,000 loan was made with Peroutka's knowledge and consent, although the SBA did not know anything about it. Subsequently, the customer wrote a personal check in the amount of $50,000 to her small business. Peroutka placed a copy of that check in the customer's bank loan file to verify her compliance with SBA requirements. When later questioned about the matter, Peroutka falsely stated to a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he did not recall providing $50,000 in bank funds to the customer and that he did not know where the customer obtained the $50,000.

If convicted of bank fraud and making a false entry in a bank report, Aanenson faces a maximum potential penalty of thirty years in federal prison and a $1 million fine on each of those two charges. Peroutka faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of making a false statement to an FBI agent. Any sentences will be determined by a judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Hank Shea is prosecuting the case.

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Last Updated 7/24/06contact the OIG