Michael Vorce West Michigan boat broker now faces 15 federal criminal counts, ranging from bank fraud to using a false identity to open bank accounts.

The former West Michigan boat broker now faces 15 federal criminal counts, ranging from bank fraud to using a false identity to open bank accounts.The 24-page indictment filed Thursday in U.S. District Court outlines how Vorce, 32, allegedly used fraud to obtain more than $27 million in loans from lenders in West Michigan between 2002 and 2007."It's a pretty complex fraud because you have about 80 different loans and because it just takes time to collect all the information," said Tim VerHey, Assistant U.S. attorney.Vorce faces 10 counts of financial institution fraud, three charges of money laundering, one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.The maximum penalty he faces for each bank fraud count, if convicted, is up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.The identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year sentence to be tacked on to any other sentence he receives, if convicted.
The federal indictment for Michael Vorce includes:
• 15: Total number of charges for bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft and wire fraud
• $27.9 million: Value of alleged loan fraud
• 10: Number of local banks and credit unions
• 30: Maximum years in prison per count of bank fraud
• $1 million: Maximum fine per count of bank fraud
Source: U.S. Department of Justice indictment
Michael Vorce's federal indictment issued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids lists these loans*:
• Macatawa Bank Corp.: $9.2 million for 26 boats (22 did not exist) 2002-06
• Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co. (Irwin Financial Corp.): $8.6 million for 30 boats (24 did not exist) 2002-06
• Lake Michigan Credit Union: $4.7 million for 16 boats (13 did not exist) 2006-07
• LaSalle Bank (now Bank of America): $2.2 million for unspecified number of "fictitious" boats 2003-06
• Bank of America: $1.975 million for unspecified number of "fictitious" boats 2005-05
• National City Bank: $370,000 for 1 boat that did not exist 2006
• Wachovia Bank: $250,000 for 1 boat did not exist 2005
• Founders Bank & Trust: $292,000 for unspecified loan 2002
• Independent Bank: $200,135 for 1 boat that did not exist 2007
• Michigan State University Federal Credit Union: $100,000 for 2 unspecified loans 2007
*Lenders may have lost less than these amounts or nothing since Vorce repaid some of the loans.Source: U.S. Department of Justice Nov. 6 indictment
Verhay declined comment on whether anyone else will face charges related to the case or if Vorce could face additional charges.The alleged fraud touched many West Michigan financial institutions.The indictment outlines loans totaling $9.2 million from Macatawa Bank Corp., of Holland Township;, $8.6 million from Irwin Financial Corp., of Columbus, Ind.; and $4.7 million from Lake Michigan Credit Union, of Kentwood.Vorce even obtained a $300,000 loan from a Greensboro, N.C., man, the indictment alleges.Other lenders mentioned in the indictment include National City Corp., of Cleveland; Wachovia Corp., of Charlotte, N.C.; Independent Bank Corp., of Ionia; Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, of East Lansing; Bank of America Corp., of Charlotte, N.C.; LaSalle Bank Co., of Chicago, now part of Bank of America; and Founders Bank & Trust Co., of Ada Township.Vorce had been paying back some of the loans after securing them.For example, Macatawa was left with $5.2 million in outstanding balances on its loans to Vorce by the time the bank realized what was happening.Further recovery efforts, including proceeds from asset seizures, cut Macatawa's Vorce-related losses to $4.5 million.The indictment seeks a monetary judgment of $16.16 million, which represents the amount Vorce still owes lenders.
Some of the loan money was used to finance Vorce's high-rolling lifestyle that included a condo in Miami, his Alpine Township home, yachts, SUVs and an exotic Aston Martin Vanquish, according to the indictment.In 2005, Vorce defrauded Macatawa of $225,000 and, later that day used the money to write a $20,276 check to buy new clothing at A.K. Rikk's Menswear in Cascade Township, according to the indictment.
Vorce has been held in a Milwaukee jail since late August, when he and a friend, James Jett, of Byron Township, were arrested near Chicago.Both have been charged with attempting to defraud a bank and stealing the identity of a Milwaukee-area attorney as part of another apparent boat loan scheme.Vorce's return to face federal charges in West Michigan will depend on how the federal judge and U.S. attorney in Milwaukee proceed with their case.A Press investigation in 2007 found a trail of documents showing how Vorce used bogus paperwork to secure titles for boats he didn't own or that did not exist.Those titles then were used as collateral by Vorce to borrow millions of dollars from banks.Vorce apologized to the banks, which had seized and auctioned his assets.But until Thursday, he had not been criminally charged in the Michigan cases and continued to live in a gated mansion in Alpine Township.In September, Bank of America foreclosed on the house, which Vorce had been trying to sell to Jett. The furniture, artwork and electronics he had restocked the home with since the first auction were liquidated last week.The Chicago arrest and Milwaukee case occurred despite Vorce's apparent cooperation with law enforcement in the West Michigan case..According the a complaint, Vorce and Jett applied for a boat loan online in June, using the identity of a Milwaukee lawyer whom they did not know.Federal investigators began investigating that case when bank officials alerted them to the suspected fraud.