Co-owner of defunct Palatine business facing fraud charges

The former co-owner of a defunct Palatine business is facing federal fraud charges along with a Pennsylvania man in connection with a $190 million lending scheme.

Mark Anstett, 58, of Lake Forest, was president and co-owner of Equipment Acquisition Resources, Inc., a company that has since gone bankrupt. He is accused of conspiring with George Ferguson, 69, of Carlisle, Pa., and another man who has since died, to fraudulently obtain loans based on false representations about Anstett's business operations, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the trio used loan money to pay off other debts and finance mortgages for a bed and breakfast in Wyoming. Federal authorities are seeking forfeiture of the bed and breakfast in order to recoup some of the losses to lenders, which amounted to roughly $100 million, prosecutors said.

Anstett and Ferguson each face a maximum of 30 years in prison if convicted as well as a $1 million fine.