BENTON (WMIX) – Less than 24 hours after he claimed to be stepping down from his office because of an upcoming one-year overseas military deployment, Department of Justice information shows Williamson County Circuit Clerk Justin Maze entered into a pretrial diversion program requiring him to resign and to not seek re-election to any public office.
The agreement was part of a case in which Steven Cook, the former president of the SouthernTrust Bank in southern Illinois, pleaded guilty to falsifying bank records on Thursday.
Cook appeared in U.S. District Court in Benton for three felony counts of aiding and abetting the making of a false bank entry, according to a release from the Office of the United States Attorney Eastern District of Missouri.
The scheme also brought down former Williamson County State’s Attorney Brandon Zanotti, a Democrat, who was sentenced to probation earlier this year for his role in the banking scam.
The USAEDM statement said Cook admitted Thursday to fraudulently facilitating three different sales of real estate to Lawler and Maze Properties LLC in 2022. It named David Lawler and Justin Maze as the owners of Lawler and Maze Properties.
USAEDM stated in the release “In one transaction, Cook approved a loan that funded the sale of seven commercial rental properties in Williamson and Franklin counties from Results Home Buyers 2 to Lawler and Maze,” the plea agreement says. Zanotti was reported as partially owning Results Home Buyers 2.
Court records show “Cook, Lawler and Maze and the seller agreed that the real estate contract would falsely list the sales price of $413,000 instead of the actual price of $330,400, and falsely stated that the buyer would supply $82,600 in cash.”
Both Lawler and Maze were entered into a pretrial diversion program and acknowledged their involvement in the criminal conduct by aiding and abetting Zanotti and Cook, the release noted.
On Wednesday night, Maze, a Republican, announced he would be stepping down effective July 1 due to an extended military deployment.