Former St. Charles County Developers Plead Guilty to Fraud Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 30, 2011 |
ST. LOUIS—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Thomas Colvin and Kristaq Gjordeni, who operated Englewood I Development LLC, have entered guilty pleas to bank fraud charges.
According to court documents, Colvin and Gjordeni obtained a loan to purchase land for the development of The Bluffs at Green Chutes in St. Charles County. In March 2006, Sun Security financed Englewood’s land acquisition and development of 45 acres located on Green Bottoms Road in St. Charles, MO. The original loan was for $3.8 million, but was later increased to $5.1 million. The purpose of the loan was to develop the 45-acre tract into 33 single-family lots. The funds were disbursed from an escrow account based upon requests from Colvin and Gjordeni. Near the time of the loan, Colvin and Gjordeni began experiencing financial difficulties related to other existing projects. As a result they began to misuse loan funds from the Bluffs project in order to pay on unrelated loans and personal expenses. By late 2007, nearly all of the funds had been disbursed, but the Bluffs development was far from complete. Colvin and Gjordeni executed their scheme by making disbursement requests to the bank, via a disbursing agent, for funds for the Bluffs project all the while knowing that they would not use the funds for the project. While the loss amount has not yet been fully determined, the government estimates that it is between $400,000 and $1 million.
THOMAS COLVIN, Lake Ozark, Missouri, pled guilty today to three felony counts of bank fraud. KRISTAQ GJORDENI, St. Louis, Missouri, pled guilty on July 26 to three felony counts of bank fraud. Both appeared before United States District Judge Jean C. Hamilton. Sentencing has been set for October 21, 2011, for Gjordeni and January 6, 2012, for Colvin.
Bank fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and/or fines up to $1,000,000. In determining the actual sentences, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Reginald Harris is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.