CHICAGO – Dec. 11, 2019 – A United States District Court judge has ordered all charges against all defendants, including Greenberg Traurig, LLP client James Graber, to be dismissed in the long-running case of two bank officers and a bank customer representative charged in an alleged fraud scheme in Illinois. The order was entered after the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois filed a motion to dismiss with prejudice the charges it brought against the three.
This case started in May 2017 when a federal grand jury in Rockford, IL returned a multi-count indictment against the three in relation to a guarantee the Small Business Administration provided on a commercial real estate loan that was more than $3 million.
“While we did not agree with the charges that were brought by the United States Attorney’s Office against James Graber, we respect and are appreciative of the decision the U.S. Attorney’s Office made to dismiss this case in its entirety,” said Matthew J. Cannon, a former federal prosecutor and current shareholder in the Global Litigation Practice at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, who led Graber’s defense team at the firm. The Greenberg Traurig trial team also included John F. Gibbons, the co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Chicago office, and two associates, David S. Repking and Thomas J. Sotos.
From the start, Graber, one of the bank officers, maintained his innocence, and entered a not guilty plea to all of the charges. The case, brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois (Rockford Division), Case No. 17 CR 50040, was scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 13, 2020. The schedule allotted four weeks for the trial before United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Judge John Z. Lee.
However, on Dec. 9, following a brief hearing to address the government’s motion, Judge Lee issued this order:
For the reasons stated on the record, the United States’ motion to dismiss the superseding indictment with prejudice [203] is granted. Motions [165- 192] and [200] are stricken as moot. Defendant’s bond conditions are terminated; all passports must be returned to the Defendants. All charges against all Defendants are dismissed with prejudice.
A dismissal with prejudice means that all the charges are dismissed and the government will no longer be pursuing the charges at any time.
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