GERING, Neb. -- A man from Gering received prison time after his bank fraud conviction.

Acting U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr said 64-year-old George Liakos, of Gering, was sentenced in federal court in Lincoln on Oct. 27. He was convicted for bank fraud. Liakos will serve 36 months in prison with a five-year term of supervised release after. There is no parole in the federal system. As part of his sentence, Liakos has to pay $5,059,035.43 in restitution to First State Bank.

Court documents state that Great Western Bank, which was acquired by First State Bank, was a banking corporation with locations in Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, and Nebraska, including a banking office in Scottsbluff. Great Western Bank’s deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Liakos had a farming operation in Bayard, primarily growing beans, corn and sugar beets as well as raising cattle for sale.

Officials said that beginning in April 2017 and continuing through May 2019, Liakos misrepresented the amount of commodities he had in storage, cattle inventory, and acreage of crops and concealed his debt from Great Western Bank in order to secure $11 million in loans.

According to authorities, Liakos used loans and a security agreement with Great Western Bank on June 2, 2017. The agreement was made up of a revolving line of credit, machinery and equipment loan and a livestock loan. Great Western Bank relied upon information from Liakos reflecting current commodity and livestock inventory, accounts receivable, loans, and accounts payable which he knew materially overstated his commodity inventory and materially understated and failed to report loans and accounts payable. Liakos granted Great Western Bank a security interest in assets and farm products as collateral for the loan. As a result of the Liakos’s scheme and artifice to defraud, Great Western Bank sustained a financial loss of $3,940,007.80.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture – Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.