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Ron Van Den Heuvel sentenced to 3 years in federal prison on bank fraud charges

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (From news reports) -- De Pere businessman Ron Van Den Heuvel will spend three years in prison for using straw borrowers to defraud Horicon Bank and three credit unions.

U.S. District Court Judge William Griesbach on Friday sentenced Van Den Heuvel, 63, on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Van Den Heuvel will also serve three years of supervision after his release from prison.

According to court records, Van Den Heuvel worked with Horicon Bank loan officer Paul Piikkila to obtain more than $1 million in loans for Green Box, a recycling company he owned at the time, under the names of Van Den Heuvel's employees and a former relative. Prosecutors portrayed the employees and relative as straw borrowers who did not receive the money and were not expected to repay it.

Horicon Bank reported losing more than $700,000 as a result of loans that were issued between Jan. 17, 2008, and Sept. 25, 2009.

Van De Heuvel pleaded guilty in October to a single charge as part of a plea agreement that dismissed 18 other charges. Under the agreement, charges against his wife, Kelly Van Den Heuvel were also dismissed.

Van Den Heuvel will also be required to pay $316,445 in restitution to Horicon Bank.

Van Den Heuvel will be required to report to prison before a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case against him is resolved. In that case, Van Den Heuvel has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts in that case of defrauding Green Box investors out of $9 million.

Van Den Heuvel initiated a last-ditch effort to back out of the plea agreement in November and December. That spurred federal prosecutors to ask Griesbach to impose a longer prison sentence.

Prosecutors had agreed to seek a prison sentence between 33 and 41 months in exchange for his admission of culpability in the fraud. They argued that Van Den Heuvel's recent claims of "factual and legal innocence" voided the terms of the agreement, which also would have kept him out of prison until the SEC case is resolved.

"Because that conduct is inconsistent with acceptance of responsibility, the United States no longer recommends that the offense level be decreased under (sentencing guidelines)," Assistant US Attorney Matthew Krueger wrote.

Piikkila is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7.

Van Den Heuvel's primary company, Green Box NA, filed for federal bankruptcy protection in April. According to court documents, the company had less than $50,000 in assets and more than $10 million in debt.

Van Den Heuvel had spent years developing a system to convert food-contaminated waste into new paper products, reusable plastics and other materials that drew attention in the United States, Africa and Asia.

The effort fell apart as financiers, investors and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. filed civil lawsuits against Van Den Heuvel and the limited liability companies under which the business was controlled.

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