PIATT COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - A Piatt County man has pleaded guilty to four counts of bank fraud.
James R. R. Williams, 63, of rural Cisco, pleaded guilty on May 2. Sentencing for Williams has been scheduled for Sept. 7.
Williams admitted that for the 2016 growing season he got a loan of approximately $4.6 million from First Security Bank and Gifford State Bank on behalf of his farming operation, RJW Williams Farms, Inc.
The loans were collateralized by Williams’s assets, including grain.
Williams acknowledged under oath that, starting in October 2016, he defrauded both banks by concealing his grain sales from the banks by telling employees of Archer Daniels Midland grain elevators in Niantic and Weldon to issue four checks to another person, which were then deposited into an account held jointly by Williams and that individual and then used by Williams for his own benefit.
The government said that between October 20, 2014, and February 1, 2017, Williams caused ADM to issue 22 checks totaling $540,505.35 in the name of his son for grain that was actually sold by Williams and was collateral for Williams’s outstanding loan.
Williams was released on bond pending sentencing.
For each of the four counts of bank fraud, he faces statutory penalties of a maximum 20-year term of imprisonment, a maximum $1 million fine, and a maximum five-year term of supervised release.
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