Plano Exec Mortensen Gets 9+ Years for $2M Bank Fraud

SHERMAN, TX – William Guy Mortensen, 48, formerly of Plano, Texas, is headed to federal prison after a judge slammed him with a 110-month sentence for a brazen bank fraud scheme. The ex-president and CFO of Advanced Materials, Inc. pled guilty August 1, 2012, and finally faced the music today in the Eastern District of Texas, courtesy of U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

The scam? Simple, if you have no conscience. In July 2007, Mortensen approached Chase Bank looking to juice an existing $1.5 million line of credit to a cool $2 million. To sweeten the deal, he cooked the books, inflating the company’s accounts receivable to paint a rosier picture than reality. It was a calculated gamble – and it failed spectacularly.

Federal prosecutors laid out the evidence in court, demonstrating how Mortensen knowingly misrepresented Advanced Materials’ financial health to induce the bank into extending the loan. The inflated numbers weren’t just a slight exaggeration; they were a deliberate attempt to deceive, and it worked… until it didn’t. Judge Clark didn’t just hand down the lengthy prison sentence; he also ordered Mortensen to pay back every penny of the fraudulently obtained funds: $1,984,496.32, to be exact.

This wasn’t some victimless crime. Banks are insured, sure, but ultimately, these schemes cost everyone. The Department of Justice has been cracking down on these kinds of financial manipulations, and this case is a direct result of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force established by President Obama. The task force brings together a coalition of federal agencies, inspectors general, and law enforcement to aggressively pursue financial criminals.

The FBI led the investigation, painstakingly untangling the web of deceit woven by Mortensen. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Andrew Williams prosecuted the case, ensuring that justice was served. This conviction sends a clear message: cooking the books and defrauding financial institutions won’t pay – it will land you in a federal penitentiary.

Mortensen’s fall from corporate executive to convicted felon serves as a stark reminder that even in the high-stakes world of finance, honesty and integrity are non-negotiable. He’ll have plenty of time to contemplate that inside a federal cell for the next nine years and two months. Grimy Times will continue to follow this case and report on the fallout from this financial mess.