Bank officers, customer charged with wire fraud, false loan application

Two local bank officers and a bank customer were charged by a federal grand jury in Rockford with fraud and falsifying statements to the Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States. Ryan Cole, 45, of Garland, Tex., James Graber, 57, of Rockton, Ill., and Kristin King, 44, of South Beloit, Ill., were charged with wire fraud in connection with a loan application made to the SBA.
Cole was also charged with two counts of making false statements to the SBA on a loan application. Graber and King were each charged with one count of making false statements to the SBA on a loan application.
As charged in the indictment, the SBA provides financial assistance to small businesses, in part, through loan guarantees to local banks. If the SBA approves a loan, it guarantees the lender that if the borrower defaults the SBA will repay part of the loan, thereby transferring the risk of borrower non-payment from the bank to the SBA, up to the amount of the guaranty.
The local bankmust disclose to the SBA whether the loan will reduce the exposure of the bank, disclose if the loan will be used to repay a debt already due to the bank, and disclose any relationships between the small business, its associates, and the lender.
According to the indictment, SunLee Development owned a commercial building at 4001 North Perryville Rd., in Loves Park, Ill. SunLee had three loans totaling over $3 million at a local bank where Graber was employed as a Vice President and King was employed as a Vice President and Government Guaranteed Lending Specialist. Cole, a member of SunLee, was a guarantor of the three
loans in the event of a default. SunLee was constantly behind on making its loan payments to the bank because

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