A federal grand jury in southern Illinois has indicted Andrew P. Blassie, the former executive vice president of the Bank of O’Fallon, for allegedly orchestrating a fraud scheme that totals more than $2.4 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois.
Blassie, 69, from St. Louis, faces one count of bank fraud and one count of interstate transportation of securities or funds obtained by fraud. The indictment states that between September 2023 and September 2024, Blassie used his position at the bank to carry out a check kite scheme, inflating his personal checking account balance by depositing checks backed by insufficient funds.
The scheme involved drawing checks from four personal accounts held at three different banks and one credit union, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Additionally, from August 2022 to September 2024, Blassie allegedly convinced a couple from Lebanon, Illinois, to invest $429,000 of their retirement savings in exchange for two promissory notes. Blassie reportedly used proceeds from his fraudulent check kiting scheme to pay interest on those notes.
As collateral for the investment, Blassie pledged 128 shares of stock that he and his wife held in the holding company that owns the Bank of O’Fallon. The indictment claims that Blassie later sold most of those shares and failed to repay the couple, leaving them with no legal recourse.
The Bank of O’Fallon fully cooperated with the investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.
An indictment is merely a formal charge and does not indicate guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.