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Ventura County Man Gets Close To Five Year Prison Sentence For Loan Fraud

Federal prosecutors say a Ventura County man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison after he fraudulently obtained more than $11 million dollars in businesses loans.

Investigators say Mike Hass of Thousand Oaks submitted false loan applications in 2006 and 2007, overstating what he could offer as collateral. After getting the loans, he bought a gas station in Santa Paula and two car washes in Los Angeles. But Hass defaulted on the loans, and when he was charged with fraud in 2014, he fled to Iran.

The now 60 year old man returned to the U.S. and surrendered to authorities in February. Hass pled guilty to a charge of making false statements to a financial institution.

In addition to the 57 month jail sentence, he’s been ordered to pay $5.7 million dollars in restitution.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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