YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
A multimillion-dollar Bois D’Arc home at the center of a bank fraud scheme is headed to the auction block next month.
The 20,000-square-foot home on 12 acres at 1780 Circle U Lane is scheduled to be auctioned Sept. 7 on the Greene County courthouse steps to the highest cash bidder, according to a notice published in The Daily Events. The home owned by James Bonis has a $1.5 million debt load.
Former homeowner Michael Ussery was indicted in December 2011, convicted in November 2015 and sentenced to two years in prison in March 2016 for 12 counts of bank fraud. The operator of real estate property development companies U.S.S. Properties Inc. and Villa Properties LLC, Ussery took out a $1.6 million Mid-Missouri Bank loan. Of the funding, $1.15 million was designated to pay off a previous bank loan that funded construction of the project and another $450,000 was supposed to be used to complete the job, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.
Investigators discovered Ussery did not use the money for its intended purpose, causing Mid-Missouri Bank to take a $782,349 loss from the sale of the partially finished property. The bank also paid $103,257 to settle mechanic liens placed on the residence by contractors. As part of his sentence, Ussery was ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution to Mid-Missouri Bank.
Officials with the trustee for the home, Substitute Trustee Corp., declined to provide further information about the sale. Greene County recorder files indicate Bonis bought the property in October 2010 from Mid-Missouri Bank.
The Bois D’Arc mansion also was central to allegations of rape and an international weapons investigation when the house was owned by Bonis, according to Springfield News-Leader reporting.
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