O’Fallon bank VP makes plea deal in federal fraud case
An O’Fallon bank executive has pleaded guilty to federal charges after being accused of defrauding his employer of nearly $2 million through a check-kiting scheme and stealing nearly a half-million dollars from a Lebanon couple’s retirement savings.
Andrew Blassie served as executive vice president at Bank of O’Fallon, a business founded and operated by his wife’s family.
Blassie, 69, of St. Louis, formerly of Shiloh, appeared at a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in East St. Louis with his DuQuoin-based attorney, Jordan Campanella.
Blassie pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of interstate transportation of securities and money taken by fraud and theft, court records show. A grand jury had indicted him on those charges April 8.
U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft’s office is recommending an offense level for Blassie that would result in a sentence of 63 to 78 months in prison and fines of $25,000 to $250,000. That compares to a maximum sentence of 40 years and fines of $1,250,000 under federal guidelines.
“Defendant and the Government agree that Defendant has voluntarily demonstrated a recognition and affirmative acceptance of personal responsibility for this criminal conduct,” the plea agreement states.
Prosecutors also acknowledged that, because Blassie notified authorities in a timely manner that he intended to plead guilty, it saved resources they would have otherwise spent preparing for a trial.
Blassie agreed to pay restitution of $1,972,887.67 to Bank of O’Fallon and $489,000 to the Lebanon couple identified in court records only by their initials, D.T. and K.T.
Also at Monday’s hearing, Judge Stephen McGlynn released Blassie on a personal recognizance bond, meaning he didn’t have to post bail. He signed paperwork promising to appear at future court hearings and, if required, surrender to serve a prison sentence.
The judge set the sentencing hearing for Sept. 18. He isn’t required to accept the recommendation of prosecutors.
“This conviction secured shortly after Blassie’s April 8 indictment reflects the investigator’s outstanding work and the Bank of O’Fallon’s vital cooperation to dismantle this scheme,” Weinhoeft stated in a press release. “He must face a serious consequence for betraying his client, employer, family and community.”
Blassie couldn’t be reached for comment. Campanella didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bank began an internal investigation of Andrew Blassie and contacted police in October 2024. Around that time, he disappeared, prompting his wife, Joanne Blassie, to report him as a missing person.
Police tracked Andrew Blassie down at a St. Louis hotel, where he attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach and neck with a serrated knife, according to an O’Fallon police report. He later was admitted into a psychiatric unit at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis.
Authorities portray Blassie as a man who borrowed from wealthy friends to support extravagant spending habits, including a $200-per-day allowance for a favorite waitress who called him “sugar daddy,” and committed bank fraud out of desperation when his debts came due.
After Blassie was indicted, Weinhoeft characterized his behavior as “financial betrayal” of his own family.
Russell Thoman Sr. was one of nine business partners who established Bank of O’Fallon in 1959. Blassie has been married to his daughter, the former Joanne Thoman, for 43 years.
Blassie’s brother-in-law, Richard Thoman, serves as bank president and two other brothers-in-law are involved in the business. The brothers and their two sisters control the majority of stock in Security First Bancshares Inc., the holding company that owns Bank of O’Fallon.
Joanne Blassie told investigators that her husband’s alleged criminal behavior may have begun with his sale of her stock shares to pay off a $4 million loan from a friend in St. Louis, according to an O’Fallon police report.
Authorities aren’t accusing Joanne Blassie of any wrongdoing. She told investigators that her husband handled their household finances, and she had no reason to doubt him.
“Andrew lied to her about their real financial situation throughout the past few years, but she did not know that prior to finding out about all of his fraud,” one police report stated.
At Monday’s hearing in federal court, Blassie also signed a stipulation of facts, admitting to the following:
- From Sept. 29, 2023, through Sept. 25, 2024, he devised and engaged in a scheme to defraud Bank of O’Fallon and obtain money, funds and property by false and fraudulent pretenses.
- He fraudulently inflated the balance of his personal checking account and used funds belonging to the bank to pay personal expenses and make payments to individuals.
- He deposited checks he knew to be backed by non-sufficient funds from a home-equity line of credit account at West Community Credit Union, an account at Bank of America in his name, an account at U.S. Bank in his wife’s name and a closed account at Wells Fargo in both names.
- He covered the overdrafts by continuing to deposit checks he knew to be backed by non-sufficient funds from these institutions in ever larger amounts to create the “false impression that there was a positive balance.”
- He used his position as executive vice president to conceal his fraud from the Bank of O’Fallon by regularly intercepting “kiting suspects reports” and removing his name and account number before providing them to other executives.
- On Sept. 13, 2024, he deposited a check for $1,965,000 into his Bank of O’Fallon account from his wife’s U.S. Bank account, knowing it was backed by non-sufficient funds.
- From August 2016 until September 2024, he defrauded and stole money from longtime customers at Bank of O’Fallon, D.T. and K.T., a married couple who live in Lebanon.
- He had persuaded the couple in 2016 to withdraw $489,000 of their retirement savings, which had been invested in certificates of deposit, and allow him to invest the money elsewhere, promising to pay 7% interest.
- As evidence of the investment, he gave the couple three promissory notes, stating that they were secured by 128 shares of Security First Bancshares stock, as well as copies of the stock certificates, most in his wife’s name.
- He made regular interest payments to the couple and, from October 2023 to September 2024, he did so with money he obtained from Bank of O’Fallon via the fraud scheme.
- On Aug. 19, 2022, he caused to be sold 1,748 of the stock shares, including those he had pledged to the couple as security, knowing that he was stealing property.
- He used proceeds of the stock sale to repay a $4 million loan he had obtained in October 2021 from a person in St. Louis to whom he had pledged the same Security First Bancshares stock.
- In September 2024, he stopped making interest payments to the Lebanon couple and told them that their principal was gone and the stock certificates he had pledged to them were worthless.
- On Aug. 25, 2022, he transported through interstate commerce three cashier’s checks drawn on Bank of O’Fallon for $4,557,792 and deposited them in a Sterling Bank branch in Clayton, Missouri.
- He used proceeds from the stock sale to fund a wire transfer of $4,089,801.12 payable to the person from whom he had borrowed money.
“At the time he transported this money and securities, defendant knew that they had been obtained by theft and fraud, in that the money and securities constituted, in part, the proceeds of the sale of the Security First Bancshares, Inc., stocks that he had previously pledged to (the Lebanon couple),” according to the stipulation of facts.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM.
