Published 06/01/2015 from www.sbfi.org
Fifty one year old Alan Blaksley, an Owasso developer, pleaded guilty in Tulsa Federal court to conspiring to defraud a bank of close to $1.2 million in connection with a real estate development project in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Blaksley had 12 charges of bank fraud related to an August indictment 
dropped by prosecutors on May 8 and 12 in exchange of pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He is facing a maximum prison term of five years. The sentencing is scheduled to take place on August 13.
Blaksley’s co-defendant, Bruce Carlton Wright, 69, is scheduled to go on trial on Monday before U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell of Tulsa. He was convicted of wire fraud in federal court in Oklahoma City in 1988.
Court documents show that, the International Bank & Trust received about 22 draw requests from June 2007 to July 2008 and was induced to release about $1.2 million in loan proceeds for work that wasn’t actually done on the Bentonville property.
Records indicate that Blaksley was responsible for day-to-day operations of the business and was vice president of Group Blaksley at times, president at other times. According to the prosecutors Blaksley and Wright submitted fraudulent and misleading invoices that omitted details that could help determine whether the work was actually completed or not.
The documents show that Blaksley and Wright diverted funds from allocated categories of the construction loan and would submit claims for loan disbursements for work done prior to the loan.
It was only in 2008 that an executive vice president of the bank started to ask questions about the Bentonville loan. As a result, IBC soon directed Blaksley to move the loan. IBC also foreclosed on the property and asked for the placement of a court ordered receiver.
Federal records show that both Blaskley and Wright gave depositions through the process and other civil proceedings related to the foreclosure. According to the government trial brief, Blaksley and Wright provided false information during court proceedings in an attempt to cover up the fraudulent scheme. They also tried to pass off photographs of developments at other locations as the Bentonville property development.
