Former Tampa banker pleads guilty to over $300k fraud

A former Tampa banker recently pleaded guilty for one count of bank fraud. Igor Shushpanov, 39, faces a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for taking out credit cards and personal lines of credit and paying them off with bad checks, according to a release from the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida

For approximately five years, from 2017 to 2022, Shushpanov opened multiple accounts at credit unions that were members of the Federal Home Loan Bank system, officials said. Multiple times over the years he would max out the lines of credit and pay off the full balance with "worthless" checks from accounts under his control, authorities contended.  

By the time the banks credited Shushpanov’s credit account balances and the worthless checks were returned for insufficient funds, he would again max-out his credit cards and personal lines of credit resulting in higher negative credit account balances, officials alleged.

Shushpanov then filed a bankruptcy petition to avoid paying the credit unions he defrauded.

Shushpanov has agreed to forfeit $303,093.26, the amount of the charged criminal conduct. He has not yet been sentenced. Officials didn't disclose the name of the bank he worked for.