Your FDIC tax clownbux at work!
lasvegassun.com
Today: February 04, 2002 at 9:54:02 PST
Bank failure tied to casino boats
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKWOOD, Ohio -- A bank president was charged with embezzling $40 million to invest in South Carolina gambling boats, leading the federal government to find a new operator for the bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized and closed the Oakwood Deposit Bank Co. on Friday, the same day its president, Mark Steven Miller, appeared in U.S. District Court in Toledo. If convicted, Miller could be sentenced up to 30 years in prison.
Miller, 47, of Grover Hill, was being held in the Lucas County jail Saturday as FDIC officials allowed The State Bank and Trust Co. of Defiance to take over Oakwood's deposits and assets. Oakwood's two branches will reopen today as State Bank branches.
At the hearing, where Miller wore handcuffs and an orange jail jumpsuit, the court unsealed an FBI affidavit detailing Miller's alleged operation.
On Thursday, while investigating $5 million in bad checks, auditors from the Federal Reserve Bank and FDIC asked Miller about discrepancies in the bank's books.
According to the affidavit, Miller admitted that he has manipulated bank records since at least 1999 to send cash to Stardancer Casino Cruises, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Miller told investigators he took money from certificates of deposit and government bonds or securities to pay off customers cashing in their certificates, the affidavit said. He then allegedly would alter bank records to cover up the shortages.
Stardancer received the money by wires and cashier checks, according to the affidavit.
The company was formed four years ago after its controlling owner, Sam Gray, met the Millers through a mutual friend.
Gray told The (Toledo) Blade for a story Saturday that Miller and his brother, Gregory Miller, own 38 percent of the company's stock. Gray said that Mark Miller, who goes by his middle name Steven, also has lent the company millions of dollars.
"I know these guys, and they're family. I just never would have believed it," Gray told the newspaper. "I'm absolutely floored by this thing."
He said he thought the money came from the Miller brothers' Ohio-based investment company, Sanlor.
"I had no idea this was Oakwood bank dollars," he said. "I can assure you that our company, we felt these were loans and we certainly will endeavor to pay everything back."
Oakwood is about 57 miles southwest of Toledo. |
