In Brief: Businessman Admits to $15 Million Loan Fraud

A New England businessman admitted in federal court on Wednesday that he cost the former Midlantic Bancorp $8.2 million by fraudulently obtaining $15.3 million in loans.

Richard A. Peters, who was president of MLB Consulting Inc., Burlington, Mass., also admitted laundering the loan proceeds and using a phony Belgian passport to reenter the United States.

He is scheduled to be sentenced July 6 by a federal judge and faces "realistically, four years" in prison, said Alain Leibman, assistant U.S. attorney.

A 30-count federal indictment states that MLB Consulting obtained loans from Midlantic using nonexistent collateral beginning in 1988. Mr. Peters subsequently defaulted. Midlantic is now part of Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank Corp.

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