June 29, 2015

Former CEO and CFO of the Bank of Oswego Indicted for Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud

PORTLAND, OR—A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Diana Yates of Sherwood, Oregon and Dan Heine, of Naples, Florida, with one count of conspiring to defraud The Bank of Oswego. The grand jury also charged Heine and Yates with 26 counts of false entries in bank records. Both were arrested on Friday and Yates made her appearance in Portland, Oregon before the Honorable John Acosta. Heine was arraigned in the Middle District of Florida and will make an appearance in the District of Oregon on a later date next month.

Heine is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Oswego and Yates is its former Chief Financial Officer. The indictment alleges that between September 2009 and through 2014, Heine and Yates conspired to defraud the Bank of Oswego. The purpose of the conspiracy was to deceive the Bank’s Board of Directors, its shareholders, regulators and the public by representing that the Bank was in a much better financial position than it actually was. The defendants achieved this by using Bank or third-party proceeds to pay delinquent loans of customers, mischaracterizing assets in reports to the Board of Directors of the Bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and concealing information about loans to bank insiders. The indictment further alleges that Heine and Yates made false entries in the Bank’s reports to the FDIC and to the Bank’s Board of Directors about the status of various loans and transactions.

“Our community and economy depend on the integrity of our financial institutions and the officers charged with ensuring their safety and soundness,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams. “Officers who make material misrepresentations about these institutions’ financial well-being will be prosecuted in this District. We are grateful to our law enforcement partners at the FDIC Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work on this case.”

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General is pleased to join the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in defending the integrity of the financial services industry,” said Wade Walters, Special Agent in Charge for the FDIC’s, Office of Inspector General. “We are particularly concerned when senior bank officials, who are in positions of trust within their institutions, are alleged to have falsified financial records to deceive the regulators and the public as to the true condition of their banks. We are committed to helping maintain the safety and soundness of the Nation’s financial institutions.”

“Americans have a right to expect that their financial institutions—and the people who run them—are working to keep their money safe and secure,” said Greg Bretzing, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. “When that trust is broken, the impacts on the community, the shareholders and the customers are very real. As alleged in this indictment, the damage estimates can soar into the millions of dollars.”

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of thirty (30) years in prison. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of thirty years in prison for each count.

An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Claire Fay and Michelle Holman Kerin are prosecuting the case.