United States v. Breck M. Swanquist

161 F.3d 1064, 1998 WL 820450
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 3, 1999
Docket97-2702
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 161 F.3d 1064 (United States v. Breck M. Swanquist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Breck M. Swanquist, 161 F.3d 1064, 1998 WL 820450 (7th Cir. 1999).

Opinion

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Breck Swanquist of thirteen counts of making false statements to federally-insured financial institutions in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014. More specifically, the jury found that between 1988 and 1991, Swanquist repeatedly submitted incomplete personal financial statements and loan applications to various Illinois banks and concealed or under-reported certain debts to facilitate his receiving or renewing loans from these financial institutions. The district court sentenced Swanquist to concurrent 24-month terms of imprisonment and imposed a $6000 fine. Swanquist appeals, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to convict him and that the district court made numerous errors, including admitting in evidence the government’s summary testimony and charts; restricting his expert witness’s testimony; refusing to charge the jury on his “net worth” defensive theory or to give a separate elements-of-the-offense instruction *1068 for each § 1014 count; incorrectly calculating for sentencing purposes the amount of loss caused by his fraudulent actions; and incorrectly adjusting his sentence upwards by two points for obstruction of justice. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On February 29, 1988, Swanquist, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Gary Wheaton Bank of Fox Valley, Illinois (a subsidiary bank of First Chicago Corporation), filled out an application for a home mortgage loan. On the portion of the application entitled “Liabilities and Pledged Assets,” Swanquist disclosed that he had four outstanding bank loans totaling $383,450. He did not disclose, however, eleven other loans from six financial institutions equaling almost $400,000. In April of 1988, Swanquist submitted the application to Midwest Mortgage Services, an underwriter evaluating his request for a residential loan from NBD Bank of Evanston.

In October of 1988, Swanquist tendered a self-created personal financial statement, dated October 1, 1988, to Citizens National Bank to borrow money for a new Porsche. Swanquist submitted the same financial statement to Boulevard Bank on April 3, 1989 to assure continued approval of three outstanding loans totaling $47,000. At the time he submitted the statement to Citizens National Bank, Swanquist had unsecured bank loans totaling approximately $188,000, although his statement represented the amount to be only $19,000. When Swanquist resubmitted the same financial statement to Boulevard Bank six months later, his outstanding bank loans totaled approximately $189,000.

In June of 1989, Swanquist tendered another self-created personal financial statement, dated June 1, 1989, to two banks: First National Bank of Des Plaines, which then renewed an outstanding $40,000 loan; and Merchants National Bank of Aurora, where Swanquist successfully obtained two new loans totaling $58,000, a $75,000 line of credit, and renewal of an outstanding $87,359 loan. The financial statement represented that Swanquist had real estate mortgages equaling $398,000, auto loans equaling $45,-000, and unsecured debt equaling $16,000. At the time he submitted the statement to the two banks, however, Swanquist actually had real estate mortgages equaling approximately $477,000, auto loans equaling approximately $57,000, and unsecured debt equaling approximately $185,000 — amounting to a total discrepancy of approximately .$260,000. Swanquist submitted the same financial statement to Boulevard Bank on January 30, 1990, when he again sought continuing approval of the three outstanding loans that now totaled $46,000. As of this date, Swan-quist had amassed real estate mortgages totaling approximately $551,000, auto loans totaling approximately $102,000, and unsecured bank debt totaling approximately $248,000. Thus, by the time Swanquist submitted the June 1,1989 financial statement to Boulevard Bank, his outstanding debt in these three categories surpassed the amounts disclosed on the financial statement by approximately $442,000.

On April 20, 1990, Swanquist tendered a self-created personal financial statement, dated March 1,1990, to Mid America Federal Savings Bank when he applied for two short-term unsecured loans, each in the amount of $35,000, to purchase polo ponies. On this statement, Swanquist claimed that he had outstanding notes payable in the amount of $105,000. In truth, on the date he submitted the financial statement, he had notes payable totaling approximately $269,000. In August of 1990, Swanquist submitted the same financial statement to Aurora National Bank to obtain two short-term unsecured loans totaling $18,000. As of this date, Swanquist had outstanding notes payable totaling approximately $337,000.

In September of 1990, Swanquist tendered a self-created personal financial statement, dated August 31, 1990, to Merchants National Bank. On this statement, Swanquist disclosed outstanding loans in the amount of $902,000 when in fact his actual loans totaled approximately $1,006,000.

In November of 1990, Swanquist applied for a home mortgage loan with First Midwest Bank, and on this occasion he submitted a self-created personal financial statement signed on November 15, 1990 (but dated December 10, 1990), in which he disclosed that he had truck and trailer loans in the *1069 amount of $35,000, and notes payable in the amount of $189,000. As of December 10, 1990, however, Swanquist actually had approximately $47,000 in truck and trailer loans, and approximately $502,000 in outstanding notes payable. Swanquist also submitted the same financial statement to First National Bank of Des Plaines in December of 1990.

In April of 1991, Swanquist submitted a mortgage application, dated March 23, 1991, to Midwest Mortgage Services while seeking approval for a home mortgage loan from Gary Wheaton Bank of Batavia. On the application, Swanquist stated that he had a real estate mortgage in the amount of $300,-000, and three other loans totaling $87,700. As of April 1, 1991, however, Swanquist had outstanding loans in the approximate amount of $833,000, including nine bank loans and a family loan not disclosed on the financial statement.

Throughout 1991, Swanquist also tendered another self-created personal financial statement, this one dated January 31, 1991, to four different banks: (1) to Boulevard Bank on April 1 when he again sought continuing approval of three loans; (2) to Citizens National Bank sometime between February 10 and April 6 to renew an outstanding $10,000 loan; (3) to DuPage Valley State Bank in early June to borrow $14,000; and (4) to Firstar Park Forest Bank in August to borrow $18,000. The financial statement listed outstanding truck and trailer loans in the amount of $35,000, notes payable in the amount of $162,000, and one additional loan in the amount of $4,000. However, on the day Swanquist filled out the financial statement, he actually had approximately $47,000 in truck and trailer loans and approximately $542,000 in notes payable.

Meanwhile, beginning in the fall of 1990, the audit department of First Chicago Corporation began investigating Swanquist’s debt load.

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Bluebook (online)
161 F.3d 1064, 1998 WL 820450, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-breck-m-swanquist-ca7-1999.