The former president of a bank in southern Illinois was sentenced Thursday for his role in falsifying bank records to facilitate real estate loans. Steven Cook was fined $6,000 and he was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and will spend two weekends in the Jackson County jail.
Cook will also likely be banned from the banking industry for life. Cook fraudulently facilitated three different sales of commercial real estate to Lawler and Maze Properties in 2022. Cook was the president of SouthernTrust Bank at the time and was also on the bank’s board of trustees and was a member of its loan committee. That bank has branches in Marion, Vienna and Goreville, Illinois.
Cook approved one loan that funded the sale of seven commercial rental properties in Williamson and Franklin counties from Results Home Buyers 2 to Lawler and Maze. The transaction was a new purchase of real estate, not a refinance, and the buyers were not using any cash to fund the purchase. But during an April 6th, 2022, meeting with the seller and buyer, Cook and the others agreed to fraudulently make it appear as if the loan was a refinancing. Cook also agreed the bank would supply the cash for the purchase. They agreed to backdate documents to falsely indicate the buyer purchased the properties on February 1st, 2022 for a falsely inflated price of $545,152. The documents also falsely indicated the bank was refinancing 80% of that loan with the buyers bringing 20% in cash to the sale. The bank’s loan to the buyers was approved by the bank’s loan committee based on false information.
The news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office says Results Home Buyers 2 is partially owned by former Williamson County State’s Attorney Brandon Zanotti. In August 2022, Cook facilitated a second real estate transaction for the purchase of four properties by Lawler and Maze. Cook, the seller and Lawler and Maze agreed that the real estate contract would falsely list a sales price of $413,000 instead of the actual price of $330,400, and he falsely stated that the buyer would supply $82,600 in cash.
And on November 22, Cook facilitated another loan to Lawler and Maze for the purchase of a property in Marion, Illinois. Bank documents falsely stated the borrowers would supply $21,500 cash.
Cook pleaded guilty in federal court in June to three felony counts of aiding and abetting the making of a false bank entry. Zanotti pleaded guilty in March to one count of the same crime. He was sentenced in May to two years probation, and received a $5,000 fine and 20 hours of community service. Zanotti’s conduct has been reported to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
Lawler and Maze is owned by Justin Maze and David Lawler, who each entered into a pretrial diversion program in which they acknowledged their involvement in the criminal conduct by aiding and abetting Zanotti and Cook. As a condition of pretrial diversion, Maze was required to resign from his position as Williamson County Circuit Clerk and agreed not to seek re-election to any public office. Lawler’s conduct was reported to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
