Former bank officials, SBA manager indicted for bank fraud

The former manager of the Small Business Administration's Springfield office and two former bank vice presidents are among 16 people indicted in a $10 million bank fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri said Wednesday.

In five separate but related cases, the indicted individuals applied for at least 31 fraudulent business loans, ranging from $100,000 to $1.6 million, issued by Pulaski County-based Mid-America Bank and Trust Co. guaranteed by SBA, from January 2005 to January 2007. The loans totaled more than $10.1 million, according to the indictment.

Along with former bank Vice Presidents Richard DeLong and Melinda Reese, former Springfield SBA office manager Larry Steven Aduddle was indicted. Aduddle managed the office March 21, 2005–May 21, 2007. Also among the defendants are businessmen George Spencer and Dennis K. DePriest, both of Ozark.

The indictment alleges that the group of co-defendants used a variety of means to file fraudulent SBA loan applications, both by concealing outstanding debts and lying about the intended use of the loans. The two named bank officials also are accused of making false entries in bank records to conceal loan payouts and past-due loan payments from distressed borrowers.

The indictment charges a total of 185 counts of making false bank entries, making false statements to the bank and to the SBA, bank bribery, bank fraud, misapplication of loan funds, false bank entries and money laundering.

According to previous Springfield Business Journal coverage, DePriest was co-founder and CEO of Third Millennium Industries Inc. in Rogersville, which was at one point a $30 million, publicly traded company before collapsing in mid 2004.

Also according to SBJ coverage, Aduddle was previously indicted by the U.S. Attorney's office in May 2007 for allegedly making false statements on a loan application to Mid-America Bank for a Texas frozen custard stand. That case is pending.[[In-content Ad]]