Former Nebraska investment adviser pleads guilty in $45 million bank fraud case

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A former investment adviser from Hickman was convicted Monday in a $45 million bank fraud scheme.

Jesse Hill, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Hill was a financial adviser to late Lincoln businessman Aaron Marshbanks, the Nebraska Examiner reported.

The indictment does not name Marshbanks, but it refers to an “Individual 1” who died on Nov. 2, 2022, the same day Marshbanks died.

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Starting in November 2020, Hill and the unnamed co-conspirator applied for loans from banks throughout Nebraska and western Iowa.

Hill and his accomplice offered investment accounts belonging to Individual 1 as collateral.

But the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nebraska said those accounts did not exist.

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Hill falsely claimed to lenders that Individual 1 and his businesses were clients of Hill’s investment entities JT Equity Trading and First SOJO.

Prosecutors said Hill made fake invoices to fool lenders.

In total, Hill and his co-conspirator tried to get at least $45.65 million in loans from at least 19 financial institutions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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Most of the money was put into a failed real estate investment scheme.

Authorities said Hill and his accomplice used some of the loans they secured later in the illegal venture to make payments on earlier loans.

Money from the scheme was deposited in a Charles Schwab account and used to purchase a property in Puerto Rico, as well as an ownership interest in a small plane.

Hill has agreed to pay restitution and to forfeit any interest he has in those assets.

He also faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

His sentencing is set for Sept. 11.

Multiple agencies investigated the case: the FBI, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Reserve, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and the Lincoln Police Department.