An Omaha businessman and cattle rancher has sued Stone Bank of Mountain View, a former bank president, a former loan officer and a host of unnamed defendants in a complaint that includes allegations of fraud and pressure to pay kickbacks to the loan officer.
Nathan Lippe alleges that in 2018 James Johnson, then a Stone Bank vice president, talked him into refinancing his existing business loans with loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.
Lippe says that Johnson and Marvin Sutterfield, then an agri loan consultant for the bank, altered his loan application because they knew he was not eligible for the FSA loan program, which is intended as a last resort for farmers and ranchers that cannot find reasonable rates, terms and conditions from other sources.
Between December 2018 and July 2019, Lippe says that Johnson made at least 75 requests for personal loans, and he eventually realized that the banker had no intention of repaying the loans he was asking about.
Lippe says that on July 23, 2019, he reported Johnson’s loan demands to Stone Bank president Nick Roach, and believed that Roach would help him recoup $50,000 from Johnson. Based on that, Lippe paid $40,000 of a $90,000 annual FSA loan payment.
Instead of helping him, Lippe says Roach retaliated by declaring Lippe’s FSA loan to be in default.
Lippe says he attempted to pay the $50,000 that was outstanding on the FSA loan payment, but that the bank refused to accept the payment. Instead, Lippe says Roach offered to settle the dispute if Lippe would sign a confidentiality agreements and a waiver of liability. Lippe says he declined that offer and the bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit in response.
On Sept. 9, 2019, Lippe’s home was destroyed in a fire. After the fire, Lippe says he learned that the house had unknowingly been used as collateral on his FSA loan. Lippe says that he owed Stone Bank less than $92,000 on the home’s mortgage, but the when his insurer issued a payout of $183,000 to cover the home’s loss, Stone Bank used the entire payout to pay down Lippe’s FSA loan.
Lippe eventually parted ways with Stone Bank by finding a new lender and paying the bank $530,000. That payment covered the balance of his FSA loan, plus Stone Bank’s attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit lists Stone Bank, Roach and Sutterfield as defendants. Roach’s wife, Ashley Roach, the bank’s compliance officer, is also listed as a defendant, along with 45 unidentified John and Jane Does. Lippe is asking for $1.3 million plus punitive damages.
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