Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect a mistaken headline in an earlier report. No arrest has been made.
LINCOLN, Neb.–State banking officials and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office have frozen the accounts of a financial adviser who allegedly hit both banks and credit unions, representing one of the state’s largest cases of fraud.
A 20-page legal complaint alleges that Jesse Hill of Hickman, investment adviser for deceased Lincoln businessman Aaron Marshbanks, and his firm, First SOJO Capital, had committed multiple violations of the State Securities Act, including false claims of financial assets and fabrication of financial statements, according to NebraskaExaminer.com.
Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post issued a temporary restraining order barring Hill from destroying or altering any financial documents and freezing his assets. A court hearing on a more permanent injunction is scheduled for Jan. 5, NebraskaExaminer.com reported.
‘False Statements’
“Chief among the complaints against Hill, according to court files, was that he provided false statements to financial institutions about the assets in Marshbanks’ investment accounts, allowing Marshbanks to obtain millions in loans and lines of credit with financial institutions,” the publication stated. “In fact, court files indicate, Hill’s firm had net capital of $9,295.65 as of Dec. 14 — far short of the $6 million and $7 million he had told banks that Marshbanks had in investment accounts.”
The Nebraska Examiner noted it first reported Dec. 2 about the case, which one state banking official described as a “pretty sophisticated fraud” involving the use of several limited liability companies.
$45 Million in Claims
More than $45 million in legal claims for unpaid loans have been filed by more than 20 Nebraska and Iowa banks, savings and loans and credit unions against Marshbanks’ estate. Some of the loans provided rental homes in Omaha, Lincoln and Louisiana, in various stages of rehabilitation, as collateral, NebraskaExaminer.com reported. “But many of the largest loans were unsecured and were granted on the basis of financial assets that, officials now allege, didn’t exist.”
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