BlockBeats news, on November 5, according to (Fortune) reports, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) successfully recovered $8.3 million misappropriated by the former CEO of a Kansas bank, which was stored in a cryptocurrency account in the Cayman Islands. Yesterday in a federal court in Kansas, 30 community bank shareholders erupted in relieved sobs upon learning they would fully recover their investments.
In August of this year, former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Kansas, Shan Hanes, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for misappropriating $47 million of client funds and transferring it to a cryptocurrency account operated by scammers. Prosecutors stated that Hanes also stole funds from churches, investment clubs, and his daughter's college fund, losing $1.1 million of personal funds in the scheme. Hanes's bank was closed and sold by federal regulators due to depleted funds. The $47.1 million deposits of clients were insured and compensated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). However, the $8.3 million investment of the 30 community bank shareholders was once considered lost.
The prosecutor stated that Hans fell into a 'pig-butchering' scam, and from the end of 2022 to the summer of 2023, he transferred $47.1 million of client funds through 11 wire transfers in just 8 weeks.