INDIANAPOLIS – A local developer has been charged with eight counts of fraud in obtaining millions of dollars in loans, including almost $5 million from Centra CU, using phony documents and tax information.
The developer, Todd Van Natta, is the focus of a dispute with the credit union over the financing of a purchase and renovation of the 83-room River House hotel in downtown Evansville, now called River Walk Plaza Hotel & Suites. Centra foreclosed on the property in 2010, then later bought it back at sheriff’s auction, and has been operating the renovated hotel since then.
Centra is named as one of the victims in the criminal complaint and could eventually receive restitution depending on the outcome of the charges. Other lenders targeted are: Mid Southern Bank, Monroe Bank and Citizens Bank.
The complaint also charges the 35-year-old Van Natta fraudulently applied for loans to refinance or purchase properties in Seymour, North Vernon, Salem and Fort Wayne, Ind., as well as a hotel in Jamaica, two airplanes and a yacht.
Van Natta is charged with providing the credit union with false tax returns and making other fraudulent claims to secure the loans. Van Natta has been detained by the U.S. Marshal Service at Henderson, Ky., since March 22. A federal magistrate in Indianapolis has given the government until June 27 to obtain a formal indictment of Van Natta from a grand jury, according to court records.
