Kilgore Businessman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fraud

TYLER, TX—U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced today that a 51-year-old Gladewater, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for fraud in the Eastern District of Texas.

C. HUGH BOWDEN, JR., pleaded guilty to an Information on Feb. 26, 2009, charging him with making a false entry in bank records and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis. Bowden was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $301,516.06.

According to information presented in court, on Jan. 18, 2006, while he was Executive Vice President of City National Bank in Kilgore, Bowden knowingly made a false entry in the reports of City National Bank by failing to disclose that he was engaged in business partnerships and other financial transactions with customers of City National Bank on his annual "Statement of Interest of Directors, Executive Officers and Principal Shareholders of National Banks." Bowden made the false statement while he was engaged in business partnerships with two customers of City National Bank and involved in personal financial transactions with other bank customers in an attempt to deceive the officers of City National Bank and the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. As a result of this deception and defaults of loans made to customers or entities that Bowden failed to disclose, City National Bank suffered unreimbursed losses in an amount exceeding $300,000.

Bowden was ordered to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service on Oct. 19, 2009, to be transported to federal prison and begin serving his sentence.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci L. Kenner.