Man sentenced in bank fraud scheme

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison with five years of supervised release for conspiring to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.

According to Neil McBride with the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Bernard J. Stromberg of Morrisville, Pa. was also ordered to pay restitution of approximately $716,000 for his role in a scheme involving the Chesapeake Bank of Gloucester.

McBride says Stromberg served as the Chief Financial Officer of Atomica, a design company based in Pennsylvania that had a working relationship with the Chesapeake Bank. According to the agreement between the two companies, Atomica would sell invoices to the bank and receive immediate payment of an administrative fee and a 10 percent reserve. Chesapeake Bank would then send the payment to a P.O. box in Gloucester. Atomica would bill its customers and receive funds from the bank before the customers actually paid.

From February through Decemeber 2009, more than 250 false invoices for Atomica were filed to the bank. McBride says the invoices were spread out over various vendors, amounts and time periods to avoid having to submit an actual invoice.

McBride says Atomica ceased to exist in December 2009 with 90 percent of their outstanding invoices fraudulent. The scheme is estimated to have cost the Chesapeake Bank $716,000. Stormberg pleaded guilty Jan. 25, 2012.