Columbia Bank Officer Sentenced for Embezzling Bank Funds, Must Pay $1 Million Restitution
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 29, 2010 |
JEFFERSON CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former bank officer at US Bank in Columbia, Mo., has been sentenced in federal court for embezzling bank funds and must pay more than $1 million in restitution.
Timothy Earl Ferguson, 48, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010, to three years and five months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Ferguson to pay $1,053,684 in restitution, which includes the conduct to which Ferguson admitted guilty in his plea agreement as well as additional relevant conduct.
On Feb. 23, 2010, Ferguson pleaded guilty to embezzling bank funds. Ferguson admitted that, while he was an officer with US Bank in 2002 and 2003, he issued a series of fraudulent loans to three individuals that totaled $660,400. Ferguson also admitted that he embezzled $216,974 from the proceeds of those loans, which he deposited into his and/or his wife’s accounts at Edward Jones.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Miller. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.