Man pleads guilty in wire-fraud case
John Bingaman, 44, of Benton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court of New Jersey on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Bingaman and Paul Watterson, 53, of Mountainside, N.J., were involved in a scheme to defraud financial institutions as part of a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud in which phony documents were used to profit on overdeveloped condominiums in the Wildwood, N.J., area, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman of the District of New Jersey said Tuesday.
Information detailing Bingaman’s employment, income and assets was falsified to obtain loans to purchase three properties.
Bingaman took a portion of the proceeds by having checks totaling about $241,790 transferred into an account for Five Stone Development, a company he controlled.
Bingaman faces as many as 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine in the wire-fraud charge and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine in the money-laundering conspiracy.
His sentencing is scheduled for March.
- David Smith
Cobb-Vantress hires North America exec
Cobb-Vantress Inc., a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., has a new general manager for its North American division.
Mike Pruitt will direct the Siloam Springs-based international poultry research and development company’s North American sales, technical service and production.
Pruitt has extensive poultry experience, including key roles with Valmac, OK Farms, ConAgra and Foster Farms.
Pruitt is replacing Aldo Rossi, the company’s new world director of quality assurance and veterinary services. Rossi joined Cobb-Vantress in 2000.
- John Magsam
USA Truck leads rise of 0.11 in state index
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.11 to 299.62 Tuesday.
“U.S. stocks finished mixed as investors reacted hesitantly to inconsistent economic data, uncertainties surrounding the future of Fed stimulus measures and the Washington budget negotiations,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.
USA Truck shares gained 2.9 percent while P.A.M. Transportation, Bank of the Ozarks and Simmons First set 52-week highs during the session, Williams said.
Volume for the index was 20.3 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 25 on 09/25/2013