Federal Jury Convicts Two Businessmen on Fraud Charges for Falsifying Loan Documents on Ten-Acre Parcel of Land in Aurora

CHICAGO — Two businessmen have been convicted on bank fraud charges for falsifying loan documents to prevent foreclosure on a nearly $2 million parcel of land in Aurora. The fraud left one couple out of $450,000, and an elderly couple out of $300,000.

KEVIN LEBEAU, 55, of Aurora, was found guilty of three counts of bank fraud and four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank. BRIAN BODIE, 66, of Chicago, was convicted on three counts of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The jury returned the verdicts on Thursday after an eight-day trial in federal court in Chicago. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman has not yet scheduled sentencing hearings.

The convictions were announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Evidence at trial revealed that LeBeau and Bodie orchestrated a fraud scheme involving a $1.9 million loan from Amcore Bank. The bank in 2004 mortgaged a 10.4-acre property in Aurora to LeBeau and Bodie after the pair executed a full personal guarantee for the loan. By the fall of 2005 LeBeau and Bodie had failed to make the required loan payments, and foreclosure became imminent. In an effort to delay foreclosure, LeBeau and Bodie submitted fraudulent and fabricated information about the progress of efforts to develop the property.

Eventually the foreclosure occurred, and the property was sold in 2010 at a significant loss to the bank and several individual investors who had pledged their own money into the project. LeBeau and Bodie told the individual investors that their money would be used to develop a mixed-use development on the property. The individual victims included a couple that lost $450,000, and an elderly couple who lost $300,000. LeBeau and Bodie used some of the elderly couple’s money for business expenses and to make payments to the bank.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kartik K. Raman and Amarjeet S. Bhachu.