Mug Shot Monday — Kansas Community Banker Charged with 20 Counts of Fraud for Making Bad Loans

January 12, 2015

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Mug Shot Monday

Farmers Bank & Trust received a $12 million loan from the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2009.

Three years later the Treasury department sold the loan at a $560,000 loss.

With the loss, SIGTARP opened up the books and identified Brian Harrison as the executive responsible.

Says Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for TARP, “Harrison, a former vice president and loan officer at TARP recipient Farmers Bank, is charged with using his position at the bank to make loans to high-risk and non-qualified borrowers and, after the loans went bad, attempting to cover his tracks by misapplying and laundering bank funds to hide losses on those loans.

“Harrison’s purported scheme resulted in losses for Farmers Bank, and ultimately, federal taxpayers suffered a $560,000 loss on their TARP investment in the bank. Those who engage in crime at the expense of taxpayers’ hard earned TARP investments will be brought to justice by SIGTARP and our law enforcement partners.”

The indictment, which was unsealed on January 5, 2015, alleges the crimes occurred while Harrison was employed at the bank. The indictment alleges Harrison made false statements to Farmers Bank to hide the poor performance of loans he made, approved, and maintained.

The false statements served to deflect questions from Farmers Bank about the performance of Harrison’s loan portfolio.

The indictment alleges that Harrison:

Falsified credit and loan applications without the authority of the borrower
Obtained loans based on false statements
Refinanced or consolidated loans to hide problems with loan repayments
Authorized loans in the name of a borrower without the borrower’s authority
Instructed a borrower to dispose of loan collateral in a way that damaged Farmers Bank

Brian faces hundreds of years in prison, and millions of dollars in fines.