Aurora businessman convicted on fraud charges related to 10.4-acre property

Two businessmen, one from Aurora, have been convicted on fraud charges after causing investors, including an elderly couple, to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars they thought had been invested in a mixed-use development, as well as falsifying loan documents to delay foreclosure of the property slated for development, a 10.4-acre parcel worth nearly $2 million in Aurora.

Kevin LeBeau, 55, of Aurora,was found guilty of three counts of bank fraud and four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank.

Brian Bodie, 66, of Chicago was convicted on three counts of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

LeBeau and Bodie orchestrated a fraud scheme involving a $1.9 million loan from Amcore Bank. The bank in 2004 mortgaged a 10.4-acre property in Aurora to LeBeau and Bodie after the pair executed a full personal guarantee for the loan. By the fall of 2005, LeBeau and Bodie had failed to make the required loan payments, and foreclosure became imminent.

In an effort to delay foreclosure, LeBeau and Bodie submitted fraudulent and fabricated information about the progress of development efforts.

Eventually the foreclosure occurred, and the property was sold in 2010 at a significant loss to the bank and several individual investors who had pledged their own money into the project.

The individual victims included an elderly couple who lost $300,000. Prosecutors said LeBeau and Bodie used some of the elderly couple's money for business expenses and to make payments to the bank.

The jury returned the verdicts on Thursday after an eight-day trial in Chicago. The two are waiting to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman.