Former O'Fallon bank executive sentenced in $2M check-kiting scheme

ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Mo. - A federal judge has sentenced a former second-in-command Bank of O’Fallon executive to several years behind bars in connection with a $2 million check-kiting fraud scheme.

Andrew Blassie, 70, was sentenced to five months and three years in prison on Thursday and also ordered to pay nearly $2.5 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and interstate transportation of security or funds obtained by fraud in May.

Blassie served as the Executive Vice President for the Bank of O’Fallon from September 2023 to September 2024 and stole $1,972,887.67 in a check-kiting scheme while employed, according to his federal indictment.

Investigators say he falsely inflated the balance of his personal checking account at the Bank of O'Fallon by depositing checks he knew were not backed by sufficient funds. He deposited the checks into four personal accounts, including one at Bank of O'Fallon and three at other banks.

Blassie paid nearly $2.7 million for personal expenses from the falsely inflated account using funds that belonged to the bank. then attempted to conceal the fraud by scrubbing his name and account number from the suspected kiting reports, according to his indictment.

From August 2022 to September 2024, Blassie also persuaded a couple from Lebanon, Illinois to give him $489,000 of their retirement savings. He agreed to pay the couple's interest on the notes and use money obtained through his check-kiting scheme to pay that interest.

Investigators say, as security for Blassie’s promissory notes, he pledged 128 of his and his wife’s shares of the parent company, which owns the Bank of O’Fallon.

According to the indictment, Blassie later sold most of those shares and did not use those funds to repay the Lebanon couple. This left the couple with no means of recourse when Blassie later defaulted on the promissory notes.

“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to pursuing criminal actors who seek to rip off law-abiding citizens and undermine our nation’s financial system in the process. This was an outrageous scheme that hurt innocent victims,” said acting Resident Agent in Charge David Bolin, of the U.S. Secret Service’s Springfield Resident Office.

The U.S. Department of Justice say officials with the Bank of O’Fallon fully cooperated with law enforcement during the investigation.