Friday, November 23, 2007

Government releases exhibit list in bank, credit card fraud case

A list of exhibits scheduled to be used by the government when the bank and credit card fraud case against former Bank of America Vice President Robert Conner begins Monday was filed in U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Friday.

Conner was one of 17 defendants when the case was originally filed. Only three of those, including Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, remain. Most of the others have entered guilty pleas and the exhibit list indicates many will testify against Conner. Bowman's trial is not expected to take place before January.

The exhibit list included 60 credit card account documents, including some from Bowman's Consulting. Also included were business address photos, what was referred to as "miscellaneous documents," such as Conner's resume and hiring document, his bankruptcy documents and tax returns from 2001-2005.

A witness list was also filed Friday, but not was available through the court's electronic system.

Conner and Bowman were indicted in January by a federal grand jury, which said Bowman and his co-defendants agreed to a scheme in which Conner took a bank lending program which provided money to small businesses by offering a $25,000 credit limit. Conner then arranged with the other defendants to apply for the loans, often with fictitious companies, then give Conner kickbacks ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 on each loan.
According to the indictment, Conner approved $1,213,970 in fraudulent loans.

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