Former Bank of O’Fallon executive indicted on federal fraud charges
A high-ranking officer of a metro-east bank has been indicted in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois on charges of bank fraud and theft.
Andrew P. Blassie, an executive vice president at the Bank of O’Fallon and Security First Bancshares Inc., was formally accused by a grand jury on Tuesday of using more than $1.97 million of the bank’s funds to pay personal debts.
A second count accuses him of convincing a Lebanon couple into giving him money from their retirement account and securing that investment with Security First Bancshares Inc. stocks. He later sold the stocks and used the proceeds to pay off a personal $4 million loan.
U.S. Attorney for Southern Illinois Steven Weinhoeft referred to the alleged schemes as “a rip-off” and a “financial betrayal.”
If convicted, Blassie could receive a sentence of up to 30 years for bank fraud and an additional 10 for interstate transportation of security or funds obtained by fraud.
“Bank fraud is a serious crime that has real victims. It’s worsened when someone in a position of trust violates that authority, as the defendant is alleged to have done in this case to a staggering degree,” said Michael Kurzeja, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service Springfield office.
Blassie’s late father-in-law, Russell Thoman Sr., was one of nine business partners who founded Bank of O’Fallon. His brother in law, Richard Thoman, is the bank’s current president. Two other brothers-in-law are involved in bank-related operations.
In a statement, Weinhoeft thanked the Bank of O’Fallon for its cooperation with the investigation.
According to the federal indictment, Blassie maintained a personal checking account at the Bank of O’Fallon, the balance of which was fraudulently inflated by deposits made off other accounts belonging to him and his wife at other banks. He then wrote checks off the account to cover personal expenses.
“Because it was under the false impression that there were sufficient funds in the account, the Bank of O’Fallon paid these checks and debit transactions,” the indictment alleges.
The allegedly fraudulent deposits totaled $1,972,887.67, according to the indictment.
Charges against him also allege that Blassie concealed the fraud by falsifying daily “kiting suspects reports” that were prepared to flag fraudulent activity.
“Computer Services, Inc., the processing company used by the Bank of O’Fallon, prepared a daily ‘Kiting Suspects Report’ which identified accounts at the bank that were possibly involved in check kiting,” the indictment states. “Blassie regularly intercepted these Kiting Suspects Reports, physically cut out his name and account number, created altered versions of these reports that did not contain his name and account number, and provided these altered reports to the other executives at the bank.”
The second count of the indictment alleges that Blassie “engaged in a scheme to defraud and steal from a married couple from Lebanon.”
It says the couple withdrew $429,000 from retirement savings they had invested in Certificates of Deposit and the Bank of O’Fallon and gave it Blassie for investment, which he backed with two promissory notes secured with 128 shares of Security First Bancshares Inc., the holding company that owns the bank.
From October 2023 to August 2024, Blassie made regular interest payments to the couple from his fraudulent checking account, according to the indictment. He later sold the Security First Bancshares Inc. stock and used the proceeds to repay a $4 million loan he received in October 2021 from an individual in St. Louis.
In September 2024, Blassie stopped the interest payments to the Lebanon couple, told them that their principle was gone and that the stocks certificates backing their investment were worthless, according to charges.
“At the time he caused these shares to be sold, Blassie was aware that he was defrauding (the couple) and that he was stealing property that had been pledged to (the couple) as security for the loans they had made to him,” the indictment states. “When he obtained the loan from (the person from St. Louis), Blassied pledged to him as security the same Security First Bancshares Inc. stocks that he pledged to (the Lebanon couple).”
Blassie is scheduled to appear in federal court in East St. Louis at 10 a.m. on April 23. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
“Senior bank officials must act as fiduciaries, not felons. They must serve the bank, not swindle it,” said Weinhoeft in a statement. “The federal justice system leads the fight against corruption in all its forms and the allegations in the case – a $2 million check kiting scheme and $500,0000 investment rip off – are glaring examples of the type of financial betrayal that will not be tolerated.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 4:09 PM.
