St. Charles County Developer Sentenced on Fraud Charges

ST. LOUIS, MO—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that James Summers was sentenced on Thursday, August 25, 2011, to twenty-one months in prison on multiple fraud charges involving a real estate development project in St. Charles County.

According to court documents, Summers owned and operated Quality Building Systems and D & M Properties. Summers used these businesses to develop commercial real estate projects, including construction projects in St. Charles County, MO. In December 2007 and June 2008, Summers obtained financing from 1st Advantage Bank to purchase three lots in St. Charles County and to construct a commercial building on one of the lots. The property was known as the Cool Springs project. The loans were for approximately $450,000 and $745,000, respectively. The portion of the funds allocated for construction remained with 1st Advantage Bank. The construction funds were only to be disbursed for work completed. In 2008, Summers submitted a series of false and fraudulent invoices and vouchers to induce 1st Advantage to release construction funds to him, which he then deposited and used for other purposes. In reality, no construction work was ever done and the lot remains substantially undeveloped. After recovery efforts from the bank, the actual loss resulting from the scheme was more than $250,000. As part of his plea agreement, Summers also agreed to pay restitution to two other businesses. The total amount of restitution ordered was more than $1 million.

JAMES SUMMERS, St. Charles, MO, pled guilty last March to three felony counts of bank fraud and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John Bodenhausen handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.