Man sentenced for loan fraud

A 27-year-old Kirkland man, Michael Alan Cassini, was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for conning bank executives out of more than $4 million in loans.

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman compared Cassini to the smooth operator in the 2002 movie "Catch Me If You Can," which chronicles the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr., who impersonated an airline pilot, doctor and attorney and cashed more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks worldwide, all before age 19.

"I felt as if I was reading a Hollywood script," Pechman said of Cassini's crimes.

"You managed to get bank officers to give you loans for millions when most people have a hard time getting a car loan," she said.

Cassini, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud, was accused of masquerading as a Microsoft millionaire and using doctored tax returns, fake bank letters and made-up employment and education records to bilk at least six different banks for millions that he used to buy luxury cars, boats and at least two airplanes.

Federal prosecutors said the investigation into Cassini began when he claimed he'd been the victim of identity theft and requested a new Social Security card number. Over time the probe revealed extensive and repeated fraud that began in 2003 when he entered a Seattle bank and successfully applied for a $250,000 loan.

Between then and March 2005 when he was arrested, Cassini conned another half-dozen banks and individuals into making loans that he could not repay, prosecutors said.

In two of his largest hauls, he was able to land a $1 million loan from Seattle's Commerce Bank and $1.5 million from Kirkland's Silicon Valley Bank.

Cassini's defense attorney, John Henry Browne, said that Cassini had a horrific childhood rife with abuse and abandonment, that he likely suffered from mental illness and that those factors ought to result in a lesser sentence.

Pechman — who also ordered that Cassini pay $3.4 million in restitution and never again have a single piece of identification in another's name — acknowledged the truth of his troubled past and his mental-health problems, but said that it was no excuse for the crimes he committed.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983