A State Representative is among 17 people indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis on bank fraud and credit card fraud charges. According to the indictment, Representative John Bowman (D-St. Louis) and the others were recruited as borrowers in a scheme. Four other people have previously pled guilty to related charges and are awaiting sentencing. The Attorney’s Office claims more than $1.2-Million in fraudulent charges were made between June of 2005 and November of 2006 on cards fraudulently approved by former Bank of America Vice President Robert Conner. Conner allegedly gave the 16 co-defendants an opportunity to submit false applications for small business lines of credit in the form of credit cards. The borrowers allegedly gave Conner a kickback for approving the applications, made on behalf of various business entities, many of which did not exist as legitimate businesses.

Related web sites:
U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Missouri
Representative John Bowman (D-St. Louis)