A former senior executive at the Bank of O’Fallon has pleaded guilty to defrauding the bank of nearly $2 million and cheating a Lebanon couple out of nearly half a million dollars from their retirement fund.

Andrew Blassie, 69, of St. Louis, a former executive vice president of the bank, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of interstate transportation of security or funds obtained by fraud.

Blassie, who was indicted April 8, signed the plea agreement Monday.

Michael Kurzeja, the resident agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service Springfield Office, called Blassie’s corrupt behavior “beyond shameful.”

He said Blassie’s guilty plea and conviction “should send a message to others who would seek to rip off their unsuspecting customers that they will be caught, and they will be held accountable.”

Prosecutors say that, starting in September 2023 and for the next 12 months, Blassie conducted a check-kiting scheme that defrauded the bank of $1,972,887.67. Over the course of that 12-month period, Blassie deposit numerous checks from four accounts he controlled, despite his knowing there were insufficient funds behind the checks being deposited into his checking account.

The largest deposit made by Blassie was on Sept. 13, 2024, in the amount of $1,965,000.

Blassie paid $2,654,984 for personal expenses from the fraudulent checking account, including $642,252 to American Express, $121,308 to PayPal, more than $84,000 to two personal credit cards, and more than $142,000 to four individuals or businesses.

He was able to use his executive position at the bank, the government said, “to conceal his fraud… by scrubbing his name and account number “ from daily reports designed to alert officials to possible check kiting.

Blassie “regularly intercepted” what are called “Kiting Suspects Reports” and would “physically cut out his name and account number, create altered versions of these reports that did not contain his name and account number, and provide these altered reports to other executives at the bank.”

Blassie also pleaded guilty to stealing $489,000 from a married Lebanon couple between August 2022 and September 2024. Prosecutors say he persuaded the couple to withdraw the money from their retirement savings and turn it over to him to invest, with the promise of 7 percent annual interest.

The bank executive gave the couple two promissory notes and agreed to pay the 7 percent annual interest on the notes. He then used money he obtained through his check-kiting scheme to pay some of that interest.

As security for his promissory notes, Blassie pledged 128 of his and his wife’s shares of the holding company which owns the Bank of O’Fallon. Blassie later sold most of the shares and did not use those funds to repay the Lebanon couple, prosecutors said.

“This left the couple with no means of recourse when Blassie later defaulted on the promissory notes,” the government said in a statement.

Blassie used the proceeds from the sale of the bank shares to repay a $4 million loan he received in 2021 from a St. Louis individual with the initials C.B. Prosecutors say Blassie used the same bank shares he’d pledged as security to the married couple he defrauded, to secure the $4 million loan.

Judge Stephen McGlynn scheduled Blassie’s sentencing for 10:30 a.m. Sept. 18 at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.

“This conviction, secured shortly after Blassie’s April 8 indictment, reflects the investigators’ outstanding work and the Bank of O’Fallon’s vital cooperation to dismantle the scheme. This result delivers swift justice for O’Fallon’s residents and protects the integrity of our financial system,” said U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft.

The maximum sentence for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Weinhoeft said in a statement that Blassie “must face a serious consequence for betraying his clients, employer, family, and community.”

However, just how serious remains to be seen. In the plea agreement signed Monday, under sentencing recommendations, the government “agrees to recommend a sentence at the low end of the Guidelines ultimately found by the court.”

The government’s plea agreement with Blassie calculates an Offense Level of 26 and states that “it appears” that Blassie has no criminal history, giving him a criminal history category of One. Based on the federal sentencing guideline chart, Blassie’s sentencing range is from 63-78 months.

Though the court has not yet determined a sentencing range, Judge McGlynn set a deadline of 14 days before formal sentencing for the defense and prosecution to submit memos with sentencing recommendations.