Bank Bilked for $5.6 Million - II


February 22, 2008

A Georgia bank was taken for more than $5.5 million. And by one guy. FBI Special Agent Chip Cromer in Atlanta worked closely with bank officials…


Audio Transcript

Mr. Schiff: A Georgia bank was taken for more than $5.5 million. And by one guy. FBI Special Agent Chip Cromer in Atlanta worked closely with bank officials…

Mr. Cromer: "What we primarily helped them with was doing some analysis of the bank records trying to determine where the money had gone and what the subject had used it for."

Mr. Schiff: The man had been honored as Small Business Minority Businessman of the Year. Cromer says he took out a large loan on false pretenses and defaulted…

Mr. Cromer: "A lot of this money was spent trying to keep his business going but a good portion was also spent on him trying to maintain his lifestyle that he had developed over the years."

Mr. Schiff: Cromer says the subject kept two sets of financial books…

Mr. Cromer: "One showing the true state of the company and the other showing the inflated numbers. And that was the book given to the bank."

Mr. Schiff: Cromer says the company's computers were destroyed…

Mr. Cromer: "Some of the bookkeepers told me that they had a special computer that kept track of the second set of books, the inflated books, were on a special computer."

Mr. Schiff: The business owner was convicted. He has to pay back $5.5 million and serve 10 years in prison. I'm Neal Schiff of the Bureau and that's the FBI's Closed Case of the Week."

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