Woman Vice President Pleads Guilty of Ripping-off Her Bank

Anne E. Justesen admitted to scheming to defrauding Jennings State Bank to make mortgage loans to her benefit.

March 3, 2009

TWIN CITIES NEWS -- Anne E. Justesen a 44-year-old bank vice president ripped off her bank of employment by fraudulently inducing the bank to make mortgage loans to her based on fraudulent documents.

Justesen pleaded guilty to one count of facilitation of mortgage fraud through identity theft on February 25, 2009, in St. Paul, Minnesota, before United States District Court Judge Paul Magnuson, after being charged on February 19, 2009.

According to Justesen's plea agreement, from November 2005 through September 2006, she schemed to defraud Jennings State Bank to make mortgage loans to her benefit. The woman professional also admitted that on November 17, 2005, she fraudulently induced the bank to extend a $200,000 line of credit to her when she forged her husband's signature on a document that granted the bank a mortgage on the couple's jointly owned lake home located near Luck, Wisconsin. Justesen further admitted that she knowingly used without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person to commit bank fraud.

Justesen faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison. The case against Anne E. Justesen is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Stillwater Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. MacLaughlin accepted former bank vice president Justesen's plea agreement.