Brooke Ferns, Check Kiting Scheme, MI 2024

Brooke Ferns, formerly known as Brooke Vernier, 30, of Marquette, Michigan, is headed to federal prison for 18 months after being caught running a brazen check-kiting scheme that bled $1.78 million from three Upper Peninsula financial institutions. The sentence, handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker, includes two years of supervised release and a restitution order of $1,780,232.10.

Ferns, once the president and sole owner of three gas supply and station businesses—Oasis Operating, Inc., Oasis Fuels, Inc., and Refresh and Refuel, Inc.—used her corporate control to open seven bank accounts across Ishpeming Community Federal Credit Union (now TruNorth Federal Credit Union), Peninsula Bank, and River Valley Bank. When revenue dried up, she didn’t shut down—she doubled down on fraud.

From January to September 2012, Ferns flooded the banking system with thousands of inter-account checks, cycling approximately $145 million through the seven accounts in a classic circular check-kiting scheme. The ruse created phantom balances, allowing her to write checks far exceeding actual funds. Meanwhile, legitimate business activity across all three companies totaled just $15 million—less than 10% of the paper money she was moving.

The house of cards collapsed in September 2012 when the banks uncovered the fraud. At that point, Ferns had 124 bad checks—totaling roughly $5.2 million—still in circulation. Once all accounts were closed and reconciled, the institutions collectively absorbed losses nearing $1.8 million.

According to prosecutors, Ferns kept the scam alive by writing about 15 checks a day, each averaging $40,000. That’s more than 3,000 fraudulent transactions in nine months—all designed to delay the inevitable. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat prosecuted the case, calling the operation a sustained, calculated assault on financial integrity.

The FBI led the investigation, peeling back layers of false transactions to expose the scheme. Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge emphasized that financial fraud of this scale doesn’t just hurt banks—it undermines local economies. For Ferns, the cost of deception is 18 months behind bars and a debt that may never be fully repaid.