Lancaster Online reported that Misty Kroesen and her husband, Curtis, both were sentenced a year and a day in prison for their roles in the Equipment Finance Inc. fraud case by U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia.

The article said that last April, Misty Kroesen pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution and that Curtis Kroesen pleaded guilty at that time to one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution. In addition to the jail time, both Kroesens were ordered to pay full restitution of $53 million, the financial loss caused by the scam, Lancaster Online reported.

As previously reported on monitordaily, EFI was a logging industry lender that provided financing for the purchase of forestry and land clearing equipment, primarily in the southeastern U.S. According to the indictment, from the time it was acquired by Sterling Financial in March 2002, until April 2007, the value of EFI’s loan portfolio grew on paper from approximately $80 million to approximately $330 million. Sterling was subsequently acquired by PNC Financial in April 2008.

It is alleged in the indictment that as far back as 2001, before EFI was acquired by Sterling, the defendants, which include five former EFI employees, were engaging in a systematic fraud at EFI. From 2001 through 2007, they are charged with colluding in a pervasive scheme to steal money by looting the accounts of EFI and falsifying EFI’s books.

To read the full Lancaster Online article click here.

Previously on monitordaily: Second EFI Exec Sentenced in Loan Fraud Case, published September 13, 2012