Former East St. Louis financial consultant charged with loan fraud

June Hamilton Dean, the sister of jailed former East St. Louis Township Supervisor Oliver Hamilton, was charged Wednesday with felony loan fraud involving an unauthorized loan.

Hamilton Dean, who was a financial consultant for the township with a $33,000 annual salary, was charged with making a false statement to influence First Illinois Bank to give her a $200,000 loan, representing that she was authorized to take out the loan by the East St. Louis Township Board.

Hamilton Dean, 55, of Swansea, is also a former East St. Louis City Councilwoman. She could not immediately be reached for comment.

The loan application signed by both Hamilton Dean and Hamilton on July 2, 2013, stated the board had approved the loan the day before, but records from the township showed the board did not meet in July or August that year.

Edith Moore and Troy Mosley, both township trustees, told the News-Democrat they had no knowledge of the loan, which was secured by a $1 million certificate of deposit held by the bank.

Moore was facing three felony vote fraud charges in St. Clair County. A judge found Tuesday that she or someone on her behalf may have filed of copy of a withdrawal of candidacy against her opponent, and that may have been a violation of the election code.

Those charges were dismissed in exchange for her cooperation in the Hamilton Dean investigation.

“In exchange for stipulated finding of fact by a judge, the case was entered as misdemeanor election code violation and conviction in St. Clair County Circuit Court, (Moore) cooperated with prosecutors and testified under oath this week that the township board did not authorize the $200,000 July 2013 loan,” St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said.

The proceeds of the loan were placed in a checking account and managed by Hamilton and Hamilton Dean. The loan was supposed to fund a summer youth employment program until the township received a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Oliver Hamilton is serving five years in federal prison on wire fraud charges connected to his personal purchases on a township-backed American Express card. Hamilton used the card to buy construction materials, pay for trips to Chicago and Las Vegas and gifts for political friends, according to his guilty plea.

Hamilton Dean was not in custody late Thursday afternoon. Her bail was set at $30,000, but had already been posted by a family member, Kelly said.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Former East St. Louis financial consultant charged with loan fraud."