Former forklift broker William P Marr of Mokena, Illinois was sentenced to three years in a federal prison for defrauding a now-defunct bank of USD328,882.

Judge Ruben Castillo imposed the sentence in the US District Court in Chicago. A jury found Marr guilty on six counts following a trial that ended in March 2012.

Marr operated Equipment Source USA LLC of Oak Forest, Illinois, selling new and used forklifts.

Prosecutors say Marr perpetuated a scheme that defrauded Palos Bank and Trust Co of Palos Heights, Illinois under a credit card merchant agreement. Marr caused the credit cards of his customers to be charged before any forklift was delivered. Marr gave false statements about the reasons no forklifts were shipped. The agreement required the bank to return funds to those customers via charge-back credits and, in turn, try futilely to collect from Marr.

The six counts involved separate 2002 fraudulent bank transactions involving Equipment Source customers in Anaheim, California; Waldo, Ohio; Quakertown, Pennsylvania; Hebron, Nebraska; St Louis, Missouri; and Brooklyn, New York.