BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A chief financial officer of a New Hampshire steel manufacturer that faced bankruptcy has pleaded guilty in Vermont to charges of making false statements about assets, in what prosecutors said was a multi-million-dollar bank fraud case.
Steven Griffin of Berlin, New Hampshire, was part owner of Isaacson Structural Steel Inc., which before its bankruptcy was one of the largest businesses in the North Country.
Prosecutors say that in 2011, Griffin submitted inflated figures for assets to Passumpsic Savings Bank and other banks that provided loans to Isaacson totaling over $12 million.
By June 2011, Isaacson was in bankruptcy proceedings and its assets were liquidated.
Under the plea deal, the 59-year-old Griffin faces up to three years in prison. Prosecutors said Wednesday that he has agreed to pay $500,000 in restitution.