Feds Allege Former Mayor Defrauded Illinois’ Largest Credit Union Out of Millions
Michael Eisenga allegedly submits phony documents to secure a $6.9 million loan from Alliant Credit Union.
Federal prosecutors alleged a former Wisconsin mayor and business owner was involved in a scheme to defraud Illinois’ largest credit union out of millions of dollars.
An indictment charged that Michael Eisenga provided the $13 billion Alliant Credit Union in Rolling Meadows, Ill., with phony documents to fraudulently obtain a $6.9 million loan that was paid out to the former mayor of Columbus, Wis., in March 2017.
Eisenga’s company CCC Lot 2 secured the loan for commercial property in Columbus. In connection with the loan application, Eisenga submitted a signed 20-year lease agreement with a retailer to open a shop on the property and that another company guaranteed the lease.
Federal prosecutors alleged the documents were not genuine.
What’s more, after Eisenga defaulted on the loan in January 2019, he provided Alliant with a lease cancellation agreement, but that document also turned out to be fake, according to the indictment filed on Oct. 22 in federal court in Madison, Wis.
The indictment charged Eisenga with one felony count of bank fraud. He has not been formally arraigned yet in federal court.
“My client and I will cooperate fully with the government in this matter,” Eisenga’s lawyer Christopher T Van Wagner said. “Mr. Eisenga looks forward to resolving this matter promptly and properly.”
In addition to serving as a mayor for more than five years, Eisenga also owned American Lending Solutions from 1990 to April 2018 when it closed. According to a local media report, Eisenga said he shut down the home mortgage lending company, claiming it was no longer viable because of stiffer regulations.
What’s more, from 2005 to 2011, Eisenga’s business and other companies he owned have been investigated by state agencies in Wisconsin and Illinois, which have assessed him with more than $400,000 in back taxes, back wages, fines and penalties, according to a January 2014 report published in the Wisconsin State Journal.
In 2011, for example, Eisenga signed a consent order to pay a $15,000 fine following a Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions investigation that American Lending Solutions made misstatements on applications and used unlicensed loan originators, the newspaper reported. Additionally, the company drew at least three reprimands from DFI because of complaints and inquiries from consumers and charges of broken promises in mortgage refinancing, according to the report.