Medford Man Charged with Making False Statements to Financial Institutions
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 22, 2013 |
MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Madison returned an indictment on July 17, 2013, charging Michael E. Kraus, 63, of Medford, Wisconsin, with 16 counts of making false statements to financial institutions. If convicted, Kraus faces a maximum penalty on each count of 30 years in federal prison.
The indictment charges that Kraus made false statements to eight separate financial institutions in relation to loans he obtained from those institutions. The indictment further alleges that each false statement involved a document entitled “Individual Financial Statement” in which he falsely stated his total liabilities.
The charges against Kraus are the result of an investigation conducted by the Eau Claire Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Grant C. Johnson.
A charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.