Two years in prison for Winnebago County man guilty of scheming to defraud financial institutions

SCARVILLE — A Winnebago County man has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud financial institutions.

The US Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa’s office says 61-year-old Michael Throne of Scarville in February pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.

They say during his plea and sentencing hearings, Throne admitting starting stealing from and lying to his banks sometime before obtaining operating loans in 2018. He began converting property that had been pledged to the banks as collateral and started overstating the value of the remaining collateral in order to obtain additional funds. Throne altered futures contracts to inflate his anticipated income streams. When his scheme collapsed and was detected by the bank, he confessed to his crimes.

Throne was sentenced on Friday by US District Court Chief Judge Leonard Strand to 24 months in prison and was ordered to make almost $1.475 million in restitution to the First State Bank of Kiester and over $625,000 in restitution to the Farm Service Agency. He must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after his prison term.