Men convicted of defrauding bank to prevent foreclosure in Aurora

Two businessmen were convicted Thursday of bank fraud for falsifying loan documents to prevent foreclosure on a 10.4-acre property they owned in west suburban Aurora.

Aurora resident Kevin LeBeau, 55; and Chicago resident Brian Bodie, 66, orchestrated a fraud scheme involving a $1.9 million loan from Amcore Bank, according to U.S. Attorney’s office. The bank mortgaged the property to the men in 2004 after they executed a full personal guarantee for the loan.

Foreclosure became imminent when LeBeau and Bodie failed to make the required payments by the fall of 2005, federal prosecutors claim. The men submitted fraudulent information about the progress of developing the property in an effort to delay foreclosure.

The bank eventually foreclosed on the property in 2010, the U.S. attorney’s office said. It was sold at a significant loss to the bank and several investors, including a couple that lost $450,000, and an elderly couple that lost $300,000. Some of the money was used for business expenses and to make payments to the bank.

LeBeau was convicted of three counts of bank fraud and four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, prosecutors said. Bodie was convicted of three counts of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements. Each faces up to 30 years in prison.