I just read an article about a 44 year old farmer who got three years in prison for defrauding a bank out of $2.9 million. I didn’t mind the farmer getting the prison term, but a couple of the things the bank did really bothered me. When the bank asked for additional collateral the farmer gave them a forged $1.5 million dollar promissory note from his father. Is it really that hard to call up the father and ask why he owes the son $1.5 million? Then the bank lent the farmer $450,000 for cattle against a forged invoice. What ever happened to the banker driving by the farm to see if there was any livestock on it? At one time the farmer owed the bank $8 million. Would a trip to his place of business be that difficult? To read the article click here. I once appeared in front of a judge who said he held banks to a higher standard than the average person. Amen to that.
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