The Montana Bankruptcy Court dismissed with prejudice a case that accused two Great Falls banks of being complicit in a check kiting scheme by former Shoot the Moon (STM) president Ken Hatzenbeller, the Great Falls Tribune reported. The executor for STM alleged First Interstate Bank (FIB) and Prairie Mountain Bank (PMB) — now Bravera Bank — knew that Hatzenbeller was kiting checks and assisted him in doing so. Hatzenbeller was not charged with check kiting, however. Hatzenbeller was part-owner of the company, along with John Bloemendaal and Gregory Tierney. The company opened several restaurants in Great Falls starting in 2004 but eventually descended into insolvency. Hatzenbeller was charged locally for financial crimes and was federally indicted for fraudulently receiving loans and submitting fraudulent invoices from a fictitious entity. In the federal case, Hatzenbeller pleaded guilty to bank fraud and received 2 1/2 years in prison and three years of supervised release and was assigned more than $1 million in restitution. Hatzenbeller pleaded no contest in the other case and received a six-year deferred sentence and was ordered to pay more than $1.7 million to 12 investors, some of whom said they lost their life savings. In August, STM executor Jerry Foster filed a complaint against FIB and PMB, claiming that the banks knew of Hatzenbeller’s scheme as far back as 2010. The complaint contained copies of correspondence between bank officials and Hatzenbeller that Foster said supported the accusation.
