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All Things Nebraska
As a reporter, you cover all kinds of stories.
Stories about natural disasters, murders, grandmas who collect cookie jars and good samaritans.
But it’s the stories about fraud that make you scratch your head the most. What drives people, usually already prosperous people, to steal from their local sports club, collections for a sick person, or the town treasury? And, of course, there’s all those scams on the internet.
Often, the stealing is done by someone who appeared trustworthy and honest. But in the end, we conclude, “boy were we fooled” and wonder how it could happen. That, I gotta think, is what a lot of people concluded about a now-dead Lincoln businessman and his financial advisor.
Aaron Marshbanks came off as a credible businessman, a supporter of charitable causes, and a devout Christian. Jesse Hill, his financial advisor, came off as a successful investment manager and leader in his church, who’d made friends good money and lived at a forested acreage worth more than $1 million.
But over the past three years, we’ve learned that the pair were on a spree – to cover some horrible investment losses – to a couple dozen banks around Nebraska and Iowa out of more than $40 million in loans.
Some of the banks were so taken by the fast-talking pair that they provided loans of $2 million, more or less, without collateral. Others relied on financial statements provided by Hill that were later deemed to be fake.
Others, though, did require collateral. But some sent them packing, declining loans for them.
The pair roamed the area, asking banks and savings and loans – from Curtis to Wayne, Lincoln and Omaha, and North Platte to Council Bluffs, Iowa – to loan them money. Just recently, we learned the financial institutions ended up losing more than $37 million due to the duo’s deception.
I’ve seen this show before. David Hunter was a supposedly prosperous owner of a Lincoln title company who was a friend of governors and mayors. That is, until he shot himself as a multi-million check kiting scheme was becoming known.
Ray Perry was a flamboyant and quick-witted Southerner who ran a low-level radioactive waste compact based in Lincoln. Then, it was discovered he was skimming funds to buy a fleet of luxury cars.
The common thread was that these were all people who seemed totally legitimate and worthy of trust. And, it was assumed, there was plenty of oversight and due diligence to detect any fraud. Until there wasn’t.
From the beginning of time, there’s been people whose business was to fool us out of our well-earned money.
Most recently, we’ve read about fraudulent child-care payments made in Minnesota. So far, more than $250 million in fraudulent payments have been found, with more than 90 people charged (the $9 billion estimate being tossed around hasn’t been verified yet, and some officials dispute it).
During the pandemic, checks were flying out of the Small Business Administration to keep small businesses running and employees paid. One estimate is that more than $200 billion in aid was distributed to fraudulent actors, those who fabricated businesses or the numbers of employees they allegedly had.
I’ve heard every excuse as to why people steal from their local PTA, a Boy Scout troop, or the local bank or village – “I was underpaid, I deserve it … I was just borrowing and intended to pay it back … I was desperate and had nowhere else to turn ….”
Most often, you hear that a fraudster believed that no one would find out. Until someone did.
I’m not sure how to end this column, or if fraud and cheating will ever end. Human nature has its pimples. Temptation is out there.
But I know this, when people commit fraud, they end up ruining their families, hurting their neighbors, and harming the companies, banks and organizations that they stole from. We gotta be careful.
Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he loves traveling and writing about the state.
