U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announces the sentencing of a crooked banker:

FORMER ELMWOOD PARK BANK VICE PRESIDENT SENTENCED TO 63 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR $5.1 MILLION FRAUD SCHEME

CHICAGO — A former suburban bank vice president was sentenced today to 63 months in federal prison following his fraud conviction for changing the terms of at least 100 loans for at least 50 customers and causing the bank to lose at least $5.1 million.

Jeffrey Gonsiewski, formerly vice president of the loan department at First Security Trust and Savings Bank in Elmwood Park, altered loan documents to make it appear that customers’ payments were current when he knew they were actually overdue, which prevented the bank from taking timely action to collect delinquent loans and protect its assets.

Gonsiewski, 56, of Wood Dale, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo, who ordered him to begin serving the sentence on Jan. 20, 2011. Judge Bucklo also ordered mandatory restitution of $5.1 million.

Gonsiewski pleaded guilty in August to one count of bank fraud, admitting that, between September 2004 and February 2009, he caused the bank to issue unsecured and under-secured loans by falsely representing that the loans were secured by adequate collateral even though he knew that the collateral was either nonexistent or insufficient to secure the loans.

He also

• changed the terms and conditions of loans to conceal that payments were overdue;
• fraudulently caused the bank to cover checks totaling more than $2 million written on overdrawn accounts; and
• created false loan documents, including forging signatures.

The sentencing was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Stern.