Federal agents arrested a Detroit Lakes, Minn., man Friday on charges that he swindled nearly $2 million from a bank and the Small Business Administration.
Steven Scott Gordon, 52, was arrested without incident about 9 a.m. at his business, Davenport Ag, in Davenport, N.D., FBI special agent Paul McCabe said.
On May 3, a Minnesota grand jury indicted Gordon on six counts of bank fraud, five counts of making false statements to a bank, seven counts of forged securities and 17 counts of money laundering.
The indictment remained sealed until Gordon's arrest on Friday.
Gordon could not be reached for comment. A message left at Davenport Ag was not returned. His home telephone number is unlisted, and the number to another of Gordon's businesses, Borup Ag Services Inc. in Borup, Minn., is not in service.
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The grand jury alleges that Gordon falsified financial statements and tax returns to get a $950,000 loan from the National Bank of Mahnomen in the spring of 2000.
Gordon received several other loans for more than $700,000 using falsified financial records.
Some of the loans were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, the indictment says.
In 2000, Gordon forged endorsements on crop insurance checks payable to his son for his own use.
Between December 1999 and May 2002, he illegally converted about $280,000 in collateral on loans with the Mahnomen bank and the SBA, the indictment says.
Gordon appeared Friday in Fargo's federal court, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein advised him of the charges. He did not enter a plea.
Klein released Gordon on unsecured bond pending trial.
A Minnesota grand jury indicted Gordon, and federal prosecutors there will handle the case, said Drew Wrigley, U.S. attorney for North Dakota.
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Law enforcement officials have not arrested anyone else in the case, McCabe said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Zent at (701) 241-5526
