Mendota Heights Man Faces More Charges Related to Banking Scheme

A Mendota Heights resident is facing an additional charge of one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement in relation to a check-kiting scheme allegedly run out of a St. Paul bank, according to Twin Cities Business.

John Anthony Markert, 57, of Mendota Heights, was president of Pinehurst Bank from 2007 until he was terminated in January of 2010. Markert, along with the bank’s chief credit officer and vice president, Gregory Paul Pederson, 43, of Roseville and bank customer George Leslie Wintz Jr., 61, of Minneapolis were each .

The new charges have come forward in a superseding indictment.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is enough evidence to establish probable cause.

The June indictment alleges that Wintz, the owner of trucking and warehouse businesses, was floating, or “kiting” bad checks, while the bank officers aided by approving $1.9 million in loans to fake, or "straw" borrowers that were then actually used to cover the bad checks.

The loss of the loans contributed to the undercapitalization of the bank, which was closed by regulators in May 2010, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.