Man Charged with Defrauding Banks and Investors of $5 Million
A Tulsa man was charged this week in U.S. District Court with defrauding five federally insured financial institutions and two investor families of more than $5 million dollars, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores
William Brian Mulder, 61, is charged with 26 counts of Bank Fraud; 41 counts of Causing the Interstate Transmission of Moneys Taken by Fraud, and five counts of Engaging in Unlawful Monetary Transactions.
According to a superseding indictment returned by a grand jury, Mulder is alleged to have repeatedly represented himself to banks and investors as a person of high net worth who owned and controlled assets that, in fact, did not exist. Mulder pledged these assets as collateral for loans and lines of credit that totaled approximately $4 million. Among the phony assets were life insurance policies that Mulder represented to have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The superseding indictment also charged Mulder with having fraudulently obtained over $1 million from investors. Mulder allegedly told the investors that they could invest through his own family trust and also in specific ventures, such as the financing of a doctor’s home that, Mulder claimed, was being built in the Joplin, Missouri, area. The superseding indictment alleges that, in fact, the purported investment opportunities were bogus and that Mulder used the investor funds for his own purposes.
“The superseding indictment in the Mulder case touches upon two important aspects. First, Mr. Mulder is alleged to have defrauded financial institutions that are the mainstay of commercial activity in our communities. Second, Mr. Mulder is alleged to have defrauded individuals who sought to invest in commercial ventures,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “Our next step is to hold this white collar criminal accountable in a court of law, and we are prepared to do so.”
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The return of an indictment is a method of informing a defendant of alleged violations of federal law, which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome a defendant’s presumption of innocence.
Mulder faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and fines of twice the amount of loss caused by his actions, if convicted at trial.
The FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Department of Treasury-Office of Inspector General, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)-Office of Inspector General are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Leitch is prosecuting the case.