Attorney Charged with Loan Fraud Schemes and Money Laundering

            CONCORD - Joseph A. Foistner, 67, an attorney and resident of New Boston, New Hampshire, was arrested on charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, announced United States Attorney Scott W. Murray.

             According to an Indictment that was unsealed earlier today, Foistner is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts.  Until May 2017, he owned and managed “The Law Office of Joseph A. Foistner, Esquire & Affiliates, P.C.”

            The five-count Indictment alleges that Foistner received a $2.9 million personal loan from North American Savings Bank through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty Program in November of 2015.  The Indictment also alleges that he received a $250,000 business loan from Newtek Small Business Finance, LLC, through the U.S. Small Business Administration loan guaranty program in April of 2017.  According to the Indictment, Foistner obtained the loans by providing false information about his law office’s income production and his personal income to the bank and Newtek.

            According to the Indictment, the VA’s Home Loan Guaranty Program is designed to help veterans of the U.S. military achieve home ownership and the SBA’s loan guaranty program is designed to promote the creation, expansion and development of small businesses.

            In the money laundering charge, the Indictment alleges that Foistner engaged in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 when he caused $201,000 from the proceeds of the $250,000 business loan to be deposited to a bank account owned by an entity known as the “JFL Nominee Trust.”

            During a hearing in U.S. District Court earlier today, Foistner’s trial was scheduled for September 5, 2018.

            The public is reminded that an Indictment is merely an accusation and Foistner is presumed to be innocent unless the charges are proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  

            The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigation Division; the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  It is being prosecuted by Asssistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kinsella and John S. Davis.