Kansas Bank Failure Triggers Crypto Scam Payout for Defrauded Investors

Key Takeaways

• Thirty shareholders who had invested in the community-owned bank were told they would be paid back in full.
• Hanes was sentenced to 24 years in August after wiring millions of dollars to a crypto wallet owned by third parties.
• The CEO was embroiled in a “pig-butchering” crypto scam.

Dozens of people who had millions of dollars taken from them in a crypto scam that collapsed a Kansas bank were told  on Monday they would be paid back in full.

In the space of three months last year, Heartland Tri-State Bank CEO Shan Hanes secretly embezzled $47 million of bank funds to a cryptocurrency wallet linked to the fraudulent scheme.

Defrauded Investors Paid Back

Following the scam, the Hanes’ Heartland Tri-State Bank was forced to be closed by federal regulators.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation remunerated customers’ savings and accounts with the bank, which totaled $47.1 million.

However, thirty shareholders who had invested in the community-owned bank temporarily lost $8.3 million in investments.

Hanes’ friends and neighbors who had helped build the local bank were swindled out of their hard-earned money—much of which was being saved for retirement or education funds.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office—District of Kansas thanks the FBI for its diligent investigations that led to the discovery and recovery of over $8 million in stolen funds,” said U.S. Attorney Kate E. Brubacher.

Hanes’ Conviction

Hanes was sentenced to 24 years in August after wiring millions of dollars from the Kansas bank to a crypto wallet owned by third parties.

The CEO was embroiled in a “pig-butchering” crypto scam, in which scammers cultivate a long-term, fake relationship with victims to gain their trust before swindling them into investing in cryptocurrency, which instantly gets stolen.

The former CEO’s guilt was formally acknowledged on May 23, when he admitted to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer, a crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Brubacher said the sentencing provided “a measure of justice for the victims and a declaration that the U.S. Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable those who misuse positions of trust for personal benefit.”