Fraud Friday — Georgia Logger Indicted for $3 Million Loan Collateral Fraud, Identity Theft
May 9, 2025
Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher
Fraud Friday — Georgia Logger Indicted for $3 Million Loan Collateral Fraud, Identity Theft
The owner of a small timber harvesting company has been indicted for a $3 million loan fraud.
Ronnie Atkinson befriended the market president of a Morris Bank branch in Gray, Georgia, identified as AC. The banker had a loan approval limit of $500,000.
In 2018, AC made his first loan to Atkinson to purchase equipment. Subsequent loans quickly reached the $500,000 approval limit.
Exceeding the loan officer’s internal lending authority was not Atkinson’s crime. The crime was lying to the bank about the purchase price of the equipment offered as collateral.
He would provide a bill of sale that was fraudulent to support the purchase.
For one transaction, Morris Bank issued a $135,000 check for the purchase of a Tiger Cat — a specific piece of forestry equipment designed for logging trees.
Atkinson actually bought the equipment for $70,000.
AC issued a $135,000 cashier’s check to the seller. The seller took the check to a check-cashing service, keeping the $70,000 and giving the remaining $65,000 cash to Atkinson.
In essence, the bank thought it had a fully secured collateral loan when in reality it was an unsecured loan.
The bank’s credit review team reviewed the Ronnie Atkinson Logging LLC loans, downgraded the relationship to substandard, and cut off further advances to his logging company.
At this point, the situation becomes more complex. The federal authorities allege AC exceeded his $500,000 lending limit without proper approvals by making it appear new loans belonged to different people. The bank funded 57 different loans totaling $3 million between 2019 and 2022 to friends and family who acted as straw borrowers for Atkinson.
Cashier’s checks were issued and cashed at the check-cashing company by Atkinson. He provided a picture of an ID card belonging to the person to whom the check was made out, in order to cash the check without the person being present, i.e., the straw borrowers.
While not yet indicted, federal authorities indicate AC had full knowledge and was part of the scheme.