EKB News

Roy Leon Cooper, 56, of Hico, a former loan officer with United Bank's Fayetteville branch, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of bank fraud and one count of tax evasion. Cooper admitted he helped falsify loans for developer Donald Carter. Between November 2005 and August 2006, Cooper and Carter used straw buyers, who never intended to build or live in homes in the Lamplighter subdivision in Lewisburg, to circumvent the bank's lending limits. Carter bought almost two dozen lots in the subdivision intending to build homes without a buyer already in place. If Carter's straw buyers didn't have the proper financial backgrounds, Cooper falsified their income, assets and net worth. Cooper also admitted he used $100,000 from construction loans for homes in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to buy six lots in the Country Roads subdivision near Glade Springs. He also admitted he underreported his income for the year 2006, and he didn't file tax returns in 2003, 2004 and 2005 until he had been charged by federal prosecutors. Cooper and Carter are scheduled for sentencing on May 5th.