Former Assistant District Attorney in Louisiana and Two Associates Charged with Numerous New Bank Fraud Counts

New Orleans, Louisiana – On November 10, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that a grand jury returned a superseding indictment on November 4, 2022, against Glenn E. Diaz, age 71, of Arabi, Louisiana; Peter J. “Pete” Jenevein, age 57, of Panama City, Florida; and Mark S. Grelle, age 67, of Chalmette, Louisiana for bank fraud and money laundering charges related to defrauding First NBC Bank, the New Orleans-based bank that failed in April 2017.

According to the 31-count superseding indictment, Diaz, Jenevein, and Grelle conspired to defraud First NBC Bank from at least April 2016 through December 20, 2016, through a series of fake invoices for work purportedly done in Diaz’s Florida warehouse. Diaz, according to the superseding indictment, was a customer of First NBC Bank from 2006 until the bank’s closure in 2017. Diaz had been overdrawing his checking account for supposedly business costs by late 2015, despite the allegations that he was depositing these overdrafts into his personal account at another bank. In April 2016, officers at First NBC Bank requested additional information from Diaz on the use of overdrafts. Bank officers began requesting invoices in June 2016 as proof that Diaz was using bank monies to improve the Florida warehouse.

Diaz then had his associate Jenevein submit bills for Grelle’s company, Grelle Underground Services LLC, to renovate the Florida warehouse. Based on these invoices, bank officers approved the overdrafts. However, once Diaz wrote the check to Grelle’s company, Grelle would write Diaz another check, which Diaz would deposit into his personal account at JPMorgan Chase bank. Diaz then spent the funds on things unrelated to the Florida warehouse project. Diaz, Jenevein, and Grelle completed 17 round-trip transactions using Grelle’s accounts. The superseding indictment adds twelve new counts alleging that Diaz, Jenevein, and Grelle submitted fake paperwork to First NBC Bank in order to sustain disbursements from the bank that purportedly compensated Diaz for additional fraudulent business costs. The defendants’ deception cost First NBC Bank more than $500,000 in losses.

Diaz and Jenevein are charged on all 31 counts of the superseding indictment, while Grelle is indicted on 20 of them. Count 1 accuses all three defendants of conspiring to conduct bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 1344 and 1349. On conviction, the possible penalties are thirty years in prison, a maximum punishment of $1,000,000.00 or twice the defendants’ gross gain or twice the defendants’ gross loss, up to five years of supervised release, and a $100 required special assessment fee.

Diaz, Jenevein, and Grelle are charged in Count 2 with conspiring to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) and 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) (h). If convicted, they risk up to 20 years in jail, a fine of up to $500,000.00 or double the value of the property involved in the transaction, up to three years of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment charge of $100.

Diaz and Jenevein are charged with bank fraud in Counts 3–31, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344, and Grelle is also charged in Counts 3–6, 11, 14, 15, 18–25, and 28–30. For each offense, the defendants face up to thirty years in prison, a maximum punishment of $1,000,000.00 or double the defendants’ gross gain or loss, up to five years of supervised release, and a $100 obligatory special assessment charge.

U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that a superseding indictment is only an accusation and that the defendant’s guilt must be established beyond a reasonable doubt.

The trial in this matter has been set for April 17, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General are all looking into this case. The prosecution is led by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew R. Payne, Nicholas D. Moses, J. Ryan McLaren, and Rachal Cassagne.