A former financial advisor in Nebraska has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a scheme to obtain $45 million in loans from 19 different financial institutions.
As reported by the Nebraska Examiner, Jesse Hill of Hickman "helped Lincoln businessman Aaron Marshbanks fool nearly 20 banks into loaning Marshbanks money, purportedly for real estate ventures." Hill, 35, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Oct. 30.
The fraud "was one of the largest bank frauds in state history and was first reported by the Examiner a month after Marshbanks was found dead in a downtown Lincoln parking garage of a drug overdose," the Examiner reported.
Hill, a married father of three girls, also served as a board member and Sunday School teacher at his church, Country Bible.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis said that Hill’s conduct "was not 'a one-time mistake,' but one that extended for several months and involved multiple requests for loans from banks, often totaling more than $2 million," according to the Examiner.
The banks, in the end, lost more than $30 million, according to Bazis.
"The majority of the funds that were fraudulently obtained went into a failed investment scheme," according to court documents. "A portion of the proceeds from fraudulent loans obtained later in the scheme were used to pay off or pay down fraudulent loans obtained earlier in the scheme."
Beginning in November 2020, Hill and Marshbanks "began attempting to obtain loans from financial institution throughout Nebraska and western Iowa," according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nebraska. Hill operated a hedge fund until 2018 and then organized First SOJO Capital Group LLC, an RIA, in 2019.
"The loans were sought in the name of Individual 1 and/or Individual 1’s entities," the release states, referring to Marshbanks. "It was represented that these loans were to be used for real estate investments and the alleged collateral for the loans was an investment account of Individual 1 and/or Individual 1’s entity that was managed by Hill."
Hill "would falsely represent that no other financial institution had a security interest in these fictitious accounts," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The loan proceeds "were deposited in a Charles Schwab account, were used to purchase a property in Puerto Rico, and were used to purchase an ownership interest in a PC-12/47E Pilatus Aircraft," the release states.
Hill was ordered to forfeit interest in all three and remains liable for restitution.
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