Wisconsin Businessman Gets 11+ Years In Loan Scam Perpetrated With Ex-President Of Now-Defunct Bank

In Madison, Wisconsin, The Capital Times reports:

• The former owner of the Dells Motor Speedway whose $7.136 million in fraudulent loans helped put a Blanchardville bank out of business in 2003 was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 11 years and eight months in prison. District Judge Barbara Crabb said Bryan J. Severson, 34, of Blanchardville, and Mark Hardyman, former First National Bank of Blanchardville president, engaged in a "stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid (loan) scheme" to prop up Severson's failing businesses with unsecured and unrecorded loans. "(Hardyman's) and your business decision caused an enormous amount of financial harm" to the community and individuals and "caused the First National Bank of Blanchardville to close in May 2003," Crabb said.

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• Between 2000 and 2003, Hardyman ran the bank without regard to the bank's loan policies or federal regulations. Severson got the money to purchase the Dells Motor Speedway and signed only a blank document, which Hardyman later filled out as a mortgage, [Severson's attorney, Christopher] Kelly said. When Hardyman learned bank examiners were coming to perform an audit, Hardyman had Severson and others deposit worthless checks drawn on other banks to conceal non-performing loans totaling millions of dollars, [Assistant U.S. Attorney Grant] Johnson said.

For more, see Man gets 11 years in "stupid" loan scheme.