Inman

Minnesota man sentenced in real estate loan fraud

A former Wells Fargo banker in Minnesota was sentenced in a U.S. District Court Thursday to 48 months in prison for loan fraud, media accounts said.

David Slominski was also ordered to pay $837,000 in penalties to the federal government and $800,000 in restitution to Wells Fargo, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported.

Slominski will serve his sentence in a Duluth correctional camp, reports said.

Slominski, who worked at the Wells Fargo branch in Lakeville, Minn., was convicted of creating more than 50 fraudulent loans totaling more than $3 million that he issued to customers without their knowledge between 1999 and 2005, according to reports.

He reportedly kept $750,000 of the proceeds to pay credit card bills, travel costs, college tuition for his children and other expenses, reports said.

Slominski made a voluntary surrender May 14 to the charges after one of his clients called Lakeville Police about suspicious credit lines and loans on the client’s account, according to reports.