Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced that a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned an indictment today against Thomas J. Cutura charging him with one count of bank fraud. Thomas J. Cutura, age 37, is a resident of Sheffield Village, Ohio.

The indictment alleges that Cutura defrauded National City Bank and Park View Federal Savings Bank by engaging in a substantial check-kite from July 2006 until September 2007. The indictment further alleges that Cutura wrote several hundred checks totaling about $354 million drawn on accounts he maintained at Park View and used them to purchase official checks at National City Bank. The indictment further states that Cutura then deposited the official checks into his Park View accounts to cover the checks he had originally written. The indictment alleges that Cutura knew full well that he had insufficient funds to cover the checks he had written.

The indictment further charges that National City Bank discovered Cutura’s fraudulent activity on September 6, 2007 and returned unpaid to Park View Federal six checks totaling $5.7 million. It is alleged that, as a result of Cutura’s fraudulent check-kiting activity, National City Bank sustained a loss of $2.85 million.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all case the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John D. Sammon following an investigation by the Elyria Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.