Bruce Swisshelm Pleaded Guilty to Bank Fraud and Money Laundering

<h2>Springfield Area Business Owner&comma; Son Plead Guilty to &dollar;5&period;5 Million Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>SPRINGFIELD&comma; MO—Tammy Dickinson&comma; United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri&comma; announced that the owner of several Springfield&comma; Mo&period;&comma; area restaurants and his son pleaded guilty in federal court today&comma; in two separate but related cases&comma; to their roles in a more than &dollar;5&period;5 million bank fraud scheme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Bruce Swisshelm&comma; 68&comma; of Battlefield&comma; Mo&period;&comma; and his son&comma; Bruce Swisshelm II&comma; 43&comma; of Springfield&comma; pleaded guilty in separate appearances before U&period;S&period; Magistrate Judge David P&period; Rush&period; Swisshelm pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering&period; Swisshelm II pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swisshelm was the owner of Horned Frog Deli&comma; Inc&period;&comma; and Swisshelm Properties&comma; Inc&period; These corporations&comma; which specialized in the restaurant industry&comma; owned and developed commercial properties in Springfield and elsewhere&period; Swisshelm owned and operated Burger King restaurants&comma; Macaroni Grill restaurants&comma; San Francisco Oven restaurants&comma; McAlister’s Deli restaurants&comma; Ebbett’s Field restaurants and a Fog City Coffee restaurant&period; Swisshelm II served as the president for Swisshelm Properties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swisshelm admitted that he submitted false <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"559">financial<&sol;a> documents to Great Southern Bank in order to receive four commercial loans&comma; totaling &dollar;5&comma;592&comma;583&comma; from February to June 25&comma; 2011&period; The bank relied on the false information provided within the financial statements submitted by Swisshelm when it approved the commercial loans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swisshelm submitted financial statements to the bank that claimed his businesses earned a net income of more than &dollar;780&comma;000 in 2010&period; Tax documents submitted by Swisshelm to the Internal Revenue Service revealed those businesses had losses that exceeded &dollar;1&period;8 million in 2010&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swisshelm II admitted that he knew about his father’s bank fraud scheme&period; He was personally involved in the communications with Great Southern Bank&comma; attended meetings at the bank and signed bank documents related to the issuance of the commercial loans&period; After Great Southern Bank had issued the loans&comma; Swisshelm II was made aware of his father’s fraud scheme&period; Swisshelm II was made aware that financial statements submitted to the bank by his father were false&period; Despite possessing this knowledge&comma; Swisshelm failed to notify authorities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swisshelm II admitted that he helped conceal his father’s crime after he became aware of the fraud scheme and delayed the fraud being reported to authorities by Great Southern Bank&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under the terms of today’s plea agreement&comma; Swisshelm must forfeit to the government &dollar;5&comma;592&comma;583&comma; which constitutes the proceeds obtained from his criminal activity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under federal statutes&comma; Swisshelm is subject to a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison without parole&comma; plus a fine up to &dollar;1&comma;250&comma;000 and an order of restitution&period; Swisshelm II is subject to a sentence of up to three years in federal prison without parole&comma; plus a fine up to &dollar;250&comma;000&period; Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Patrick Carney&period; They were investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fbi&period;gov&sol;kansascity&sol;press-releases&sol;2015&sol;springfield-area-business-owner-son-plead-guilty-in-5&period;5-million-fraud-scheme">Original PressReleases &&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Bank FraudFinancial FraudMoney Laundering