A Little Rock man pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements on loan applications, costing banks and lenders more than $3.3 million, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland and Diane Upchurch of the FBI.
Hiland, the chief prosecutor for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Upchurch, special agent in charge of the FBI's Little Rock field office, said Marcus Shane Sweetin, 46, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. to a charge of making a false statement on a loan application.
The charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Sweetin operated Sweetin Farms LLC, which farmed two parcels in Arkansas County and Prairie County. In April 2013, he applied for a loan from AgHeritage Farm Credit Services and sought to recoup money that he said his company spent acquiring a Case 290 Magnum Tractor, according to the news release
The tractor itself was to serve as collateral, and Sweetin gave the lender an invoice from an equipment company indicating that it had been purchased outright. But the tractor had actually been financed through another lender, the release said, noting that the tractor actually bore a different serial number, and the paperwork Sweetin provided was fabricated.
Sweetin acknowledged during his plea hearing that "this was only one of several instances where he lied to lenders in order to secure loans for his farming operation," the officials said. "At various points," they said, "he sought purchase money for farming equipment financed elsewhere using fictitious serial numbers and invoices, he over-stated farm-able acreage and understated debt to secure crop loans, and he double-pledged collateral."
"All told, these false statements secured loans that occasioned over $3.3 million in losses to AgHeritage, BancorpSouth and Regions Bank," the news release said.
Moody will sentence Sweetin after a presentence report is prepared, which usually takes two to three months.
The case, investigated by the FBI, is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Morgan.
Metro on 05/31/2019