A state legislator was one of 16 people indicted Monday in a $1.2 million bank and credit card fraud scheme, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, was among those recruited by Robert Conner, former Bank of America vice president, to submit false applications for small-business credit cards, the indictment said. Conner was accused of receiving kickbacks.
Bowman's attorney defended the lawmaker's intentions.
"It would be our position that he made an unfortunate choice by doing business with an individual, and I would characterize him as more of a victim than anything else," Scott Rosenblum told St. Louis radio station KMOX. Rosenblum did not return phone calls from The Associated Press.
The indictment alleges Bowman met with Conner in January 2006 and submitted a fraudulent credit application in the name of Bowman Consulting.
Bowman is accused of obtaining a $4,050 cash advance using the fraudulent credit line at a St. Louis bank branch, and of obtaining more than $1,000 worth of items over a year.
Credit applicants misrepresented the names of their businesses, the amount of time they had been in operation or their annual income in order to appear worthy of receiving credit, the indictment said.
More than $1.2 million in charges were made on the fraudulently approved cards, the indictment said.
A woman answering at a phone number listed for Conner's home said he was not available.
