PEORIA, Ill. – Two men were sentenced to prison on Thursday for what the federal government describes as a “multi-year fraud scheme.”
35-year-old Chad Campen of Peoria was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after pleading guilty in March of bank fraud, three counts of wire fraud, illegal monetary transaction, bankruptcy fraud, and false statements under oath. He was indicted and arrested on the charges in January of 2022.
A co-conspirator, 62-year-old Richard Weiss of Pekin, was charged in a separate case and pleaded guilty in February. Weiss pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Prosecutors say Campen swindled dozens of individuals and financial institutions between 2013 and 2021, where he would reportedly pretend to be engaged in ventures ranging from farming to solar farm construction. He would then obtain loans from multiple banks to enrich himself and pay off previous victims.
Prosecutors say he obtained more than $17 million from the loans, with $5 million still outstanding.
In one incident, prosecutors say he caused a family farm to have its equipment repossessed after he claimed the equipment as his to secure the loan. In another incident, Campen convinced a family to invest in a purported farming opportunity. When it fell through, the family had to sell a farm that had been in the family for more than 100 years after Campen reportedly used it as collateral.
Campen had also reportedly defrauded the Village of Bartonville with Weiss, and they convinced the village to extend loans and additional funds to tear down the former Bowen Building. Campen had made promises to recoup the loans and investments through the sale of materials from the building, and falsely claimed buyers were already lined up.
Bartonville had lost what was equal to half of its property tax revenue for an entire year, as a result of the fraud.
Campen then reportedly used bankruptcy courts to delay his creditors and prevent discovery of his fraud, by filing counterfeit documents and making false statements under oath.
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