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By stan_sipple

Missouri State House Representative Bowman resigns from House after pleading guilty in federal court to bribery and fraud in obtaining credit cards from Bank of America. St Louis Business Journal.
Missouri Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis County, submitted his resignation Friday from the Missouri House of Representatives after pleading guilty to bribing a bank official, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Friday. Bowman, 51, of Northwoods, was a co-defendant of former Bank of America Vice President Robert Conner who was convicted in December of 36 federal charges involving a $1.2 million bank and credit card fraud scheme. As part of the plea agreement, Bowman's resignation from the House of Representatives is effective Jan. 31. He now faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and/or fines up to $100,000. He will be sentenced April 3. According to Hanaway's release, in January 2006, Bowman met with Conner and knowingly submitted a fraudulent credit application to Bank of America in the name of an entity called Bowman Consulting. Bowman was not credit worthy at the time of application and the credit application contained misrepresentations that induced Bank of America to approve the application. Bowman knew that Conner demanded payment in exchange for his approval of the card. Accordingly, Bowman bribed Conner so that the card would be approved. Bowman and Conner were indicted in January 2007 along with 15 other people that were recruited as borrowers as part of the scheme. Bowman represents District 70, part of St. Louis County, in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Full post as published by Showmeblawgs on January 27, 2008 (boomark / email).