0:00

This podcast is supported by

0:02

NetSuite. Okay, business Okay, business

0:04

leaders, are you here to play or

0:06

are you playing to win? If you're

0:08

in it to win, meet your next

0:10

MVP. Net suite by Oracle. Net suite

0:12

is your full business management system and

0:15

one convenience suite. With net suite, you're

0:17

running your accounting, your finance, your HR,

0:19

your e-commerce, and more, all from your

0:21

online dashboard. Upgrade your playbook and make

0:23

the switch to net suite, the number

0:25

one cloud ERP. Get the CFO's guide

0:28

to AI and machine learning at

0:30

netsuite.com/nyt, netsuite.com/nyt.

0:34

Hi, I'm David Yaffe Bellini

0:36

and I covered the cryptocurrency

0:38

world for the New

0:40

York Times. Last year,

0:42

I came across a

0:44

strange and really interesting

0:46

story. It was about a

0:48

bank in Kansas that collapsed.

0:50

The bank was called Heartland

0:53

Tri-State Bank. And it was

0:55

located in this tiny rural

0:58

community in the southwestern corner

1:00

of Kansas called Elkhart.

1:02

The town of Elkhart is one

1:04

of those really tight-knit, isolated communities

1:07

whose charm and whole sense of

1:09

itself kind of derives from the

1:11

way that it's cut off from

1:13

the outside world. Everyone in town

1:15

knows each other. Everyone in town

1:18

trusts each other. But a bank collapse

1:20

is a really serious business.

1:22

The federal government has to

1:24

step in. They have to

1:26

orchestrate a takeover really quickly

1:28

almost under the cover of

1:30

night to stop panic from

1:32

spreading in the market. On

1:34

the day that Heartland collapsed and

1:36

that it was taken over in

1:39

July 2023, a really dramatic scene

1:41

played out on the streets of

1:43

Elkhart. They were blacked

1:45

out SUVs surrounding the bank.

1:47

Cargo vans with license

1:49

plates that nobody in town

1:52

recognized. You had government officials walking

1:54

into the bank building with

1:56

power tools and ladders pushing

1:59

all the furniture to the

2:01

of the room, taking down

2:03

the security system, removing laptops

2:05

and computers, and piling all

2:07

that hardware into the vans

2:10

parked outside. And then a

2:12

state banking official got up

2:14

in front of the staff

2:16

and made an announcement. The

2:18

bank had fallen victim to

2:21

a scam, and now it

2:23

was insolvent. What was especially

2:25

remarkable about this scam was

2:27

how big it was. And

2:29

that's because the primary victim

2:32

wasn't some random employee. It

2:34

was the bank's president, a

2:36

guy named Shane Haynes, and

2:38

he had access to tens

2:41

of millions of dollars, the

2:43

bank's money. And when Haynes

2:45

fell victim to this scam,

2:47

he ended up stealing that

2:49

money. The total amount that

2:52

he stole from the bank

2:54

came out to $47.1 million.

2:58

Shane Haynes was just about the

3:00

last person anyone in Elkhart thought

3:02

would fall for a scam like

3:05

this. He had been part of

3:07

the community for decades. He worked

3:09

his way up from a loan

3:12

officer to become president of the

3:14

bank. Everyone in town thought he

3:16

was super smart, financially astute, a

3:19

really good and reliable leader of

3:21

this important community institution. Shane volunteered

3:23

at high school football games. He

3:26

served on the school board, preached

3:28

at the local church, and he

3:30

also represented the community in Washington,

3:33

even once testified in front of

3:35

the House of Representatives about the

3:37

needs of small town banks. This

3:40

wasn't any ordinary bank either. Its

3:42

shareholders were all locals. In many

3:44

cases, people's shares in the bank

3:47

made up the core of their

3:49

emergency savings in retirement funds. So

3:51

when the bank collapsed, people lost

3:54

the money they had been hoping

3:56

to pass on to their children

3:58

and grandchildren. and the person

4:01

to blame was one of their

4:03

own neighbors. So when I came across

4:05

this story, my big question

4:07

was, how did Shane Haynes,

4:09

this pillar of the community,

4:11

who everyone in Elkhar, knew

4:13

and trusted, getting snared in

4:15

a scam like this, one

4:17

that would lead to the downfall

4:19

of an entire bank? And what

4:21

does a traumatic event like

4:23

this do to a small

4:25

community? That's what this week

4:28

Sunday read is about. Our

4:30

audio producer today is Tally

4:32

Abicassas. The music you'll hear

4:35

was written and performed by

4:37

Aaron Esposito. So here's my

4:39

story. Thanks for listening. Jim

4:42

Tucker could hardly believe what

4:44

he was hearing. It sounded

4:46

like fiction, a nightmare too

4:48

outlandish for an unassuming town

4:50

like his. It was July

4:52

2023, and Tucker was hosting

4:54

a meeting of the Board

4:56

of Heartland Tri-Tristate Bank. a

4:58

community-owned business in a small

5:00

Kansas town called Elkhart. Heartland

5:02

was a beloved local institution,

5:04

and a source of Tucker

5:06

family pride. Jim served on

5:09

the board with his elderly

5:11

father, Bill, who founded the

5:13

bank four decades earlier. All

5:15

the board members, the tuckers

5:17

and several other farmers and

5:19

business people, had known one another

5:21

for years. That evening, however, they

5:24

were gathering to discuss what

5:26

seemed on its face and

5:28

epic betrayal. Over the past

5:30

few weeks, the bank's longtime

5:32

president, a popular local businessman

5:35

named Shane Haynes, had ordered

5:37

a series of unexplained wire

5:39

transfers that drained tens of

5:41

millions of dollars from

5:43

the bank. Haynes converted

5:45

the funds into cryptocurrencies.

5:47

Then the money vanished.

5:49

Tucker's first inkling that something

5:52

was wrong came from a friend.

5:54

An investor in the bank who

5:56

was close to Haynes. a few days

5:58

before the board meeting. invited

6:00

to Tucker that Haynes had messed

6:02

up. A wire transfer went out,

6:05

supposedly to help a struggling customer,

6:07

and now the bank was $30

6:09

million in the hole. By the time

6:11

the board members gathered, it was

6:14

clear that Heartland was caught up

6:16

in some sort of financial

6:18

scam, a sophisticated grift that

6:20

delivered its assets into the

6:23

clutches of an overseas crypto

6:25

crime network. Haynes seemed oddly

6:27

nonchalant, exuding the air

6:29

of an overconfidence salesman.

6:32

Tucker had heard that he

6:34

had spent the past week at

6:36

an out-of-state leadership conference. Guys,

6:38

I'm sorry, Haynes told the board,

6:40

but we're going to get it

6:42

fixed. Haynes promised that he could

6:45

recover the money, a total of

6:47

$47.1 million. All he needed was

6:49

the board's approval to borrow another

6:51

$18 million. But the help of

6:53

some business contacts, he said. He

6:56

would use those funds to recoup

6:58

the many millions he had already

7:00

lost. His banking career was

7:02

probably finished, he acknowledged.

7:04

But the deal came with a sweetener

7:06

that would allow him to start over.

7:08

The people I'm working with had built

7:10

in money from me, he has explained.

7:13

Tucker, a 50-year-old farmer, had

7:15

no special expertise in finance. He

7:17

grew up in Elkhart, graduated from

7:19

Elkhart High School, and returned

7:22

after college to work on his family's

7:24

farm. a 12,000 acre expanse that he

7:26

had helped manage for nearly 30 years.

7:28

He was accustomed to people

7:31

deferring to Haynes, whom his father

7:33

considered a brilliant executive, the banking

7:35

equivalent of Patrick Mahones,

7:37

the Kansas City Chief's three-time

7:39

Super Bowl winning quarterback. But

7:41

then Haynes was telling the board that

7:44

someone in Hong Kong had frozen

7:46

millions in crypto holdings that he

7:48

had acquired while working with a

7:50

couple of internet acquaintances. a banker

7:52

named Rob who had good relationships

7:54

in Washington, and a woman named

7:56

Bella with family in Australia. Haynes

7:59

was a com- speaker, and Tucker

8:01

worried that these explanations, far-fetched as

8:03

they were, might sway some of

8:05

the older members of the board.

8:08

He could sense that his 92-year-old

8:10

father was listening closely, straining to

8:12

keep believing in the man he

8:14

had trusted for so many years.

8:17

Hayne seemed hopeful that his pitch

8:19

had worked. When the board reconvened

8:21

the next morning, he showed up

8:24

in short some flip-flops, put down

8:26

his briefcase, and started passing out

8:28

paperwork. laying out ways for the

8:30

bank to borrow more money. But

8:33

Jim Tucker had had enough. He

8:35

slid the forms back to Haynes.

8:37

Shane, I don't even know who

8:39

you are right now, Tucker said.

8:42

I don't believe anything you've said.

8:44

Lodged in the state's southwestern corner,

8:46

Elkhart is unusually remote, about as

8:49

far from the capital city Topeka

8:51

as it is possible for a

8:53

Kansas town to be. Many of

8:55

the roughly 1900 people who live

8:58

there work in agriculture, tending to

9:00

rows of crops that seem to

9:02

stretch endlessly in every direction, like

9:04

an ocean. People come here with

9:07

a dream, Tucker said, and find

9:09

out it's a lot of work.

9:11

For decades, Elkhart's emotional center was

9:14

heartland, a source of stability in

9:16

a rapidly changing world. In 2016,

9:18

Haynes testified at a banking hearing

9:20

in the U.S. House of Representatives.

9:23

describing the town as an old-fashioned

9:25

community built on trust. Some mornings,

9:27

he said, members of his bank

9:30

staff woke up to find piles

9:32

of cash sitting in their unlocked

9:34

pickup trucks, informal loan payments from

9:36

loyal customers who knew the money

9:39

would end up in the right

9:41

place. That is what it means

9:43

to be a community rural banker,

9:45

Haynes declared. Heartland was founded in

9:48

1984, after a group from Elkhart,

9:50

including Tucker's father. banded together with

9:52

some outside investors. They wanted to

9:55

create an alternative to another bank

9:57

in the area. A business that

9:59

felt and made it too difficult

10:01

to secure loans. The new bank became

10:04

a point of pride for Elkhart, even

10:06

after it was taken over in

10:08

the early 1990s by a holding

10:10

company called Kansas Bank Corporation. Around

10:12

that time, Haynes, who grew up in

10:14

nearby Keys, Oklahoma, started at the bank as

10:17

a loan officer. He rose up the rank

10:19

and was eventually a named president

10:21

in 2008, earning a claim for

10:23

his fluency in both the language

10:26

of finance and the farming vernacular

10:28

of his neighbors. A part-time preacher

10:30

at a local church, Haynes embodied

10:32

a certain small town ideal. He lived

10:34

in a nice house with his wife

10:36

and three daughters, and volunteered at

10:38

high school football games. But in 2011,

10:41

the leaders of the Kansas Bank Corporation

10:43

grew concerned about Haynes, according to

10:45

Tina Call, who served on the

10:47

company's board at the time. They

10:50

had discovered problems in

10:52

his loan portfolio. Barrers

10:54

who lacked sufficient collateral, financial

10:56

paperwork that didn't seem to

10:58

add up. Haynes was eventually fired

11:01

for reasons that remain in

11:03

dispute years later. A lawyer for

11:05

Haynes says he was simply a

11:08

casualty of downsizing at the bank.

11:10

Call says that explanation is

11:12

completely false. Regardless, Haynes

11:14

still had a powerful network in

11:16

Elkhart. Local allies who helped him

11:19

turn a career setback into a

11:21

business opportunity. Just as Bill Tucker

11:23

had 30 years earlier, Haynes assembled

11:25

a group of local investors. who

11:27

started a bid to buy the

11:30

bank and restore control of the

11:32

most important institution in Elkhart to

11:34

people who actually lived there. I need

11:36

directions for paying down debt.

11:38

Starting root, apply for a SOFI personal

11:40

loan and consolidate your debt into one

11:43

fixed payment. Turn right into a positive

11:45

outlook and get $5,000 to $100,000 as

11:47

soon as the same day you sign

11:49

with no fees required. Got it. You

11:51

could get out of high interest credit

11:54

card debt with a SOFi personal loan.

11:56

View your rate at sulphite.com/debt in 60

11:58

seconds with no impact your... credit score.

12:00

Loans originated by Sophie Bankinai, member

12:03

of DIC, terms and conditions at

12:05

sophie.com/dead, NMLS 696891. New York Times

12:07

Cooking saves me time because the

12:09

instructions are so clear, so simple.

12:11

There's not a day, I do

12:13

not open the app. the salmon

12:15

curry, right? Just coconut milk, greens,

12:18

throw some salmon in, and 25

12:20

minutes later, you have something I

12:22

would have probably never made before.

12:24

The perfect chocolate, chocolate chip cookies,

12:26

those are to die for. Those

12:28

little tiny snapshots, they make your

12:30

mouth water a little bit. I

12:33

always read all the comments for

12:35

what people are substituting. So I

12:37

just put in galuted free, and

12:39

all of the comments that have

12:41

diluted free in there comes up.

12:43

Locute, one of my favorite parts

12:46

about the app is the screen

12:48

stays on while you're cooking. I

12:50

opened the app. There are brand

12:52

new recipes. They all look phenomenal

12:54

and they've never disappointed. If I

12:56

didn't have New York Times cooking

12:58

app, I'll be lost. That's true

13:01

story. Hey, it's Eric Kim from

13:03

New York Times Cooking. Come cook

13:05

with us. Go to ny cooking.com.

13:07

In 2012, Haines returned as president

13:09

of Heartland, which adopted an ownership

13:11

structure that has become common across

13:13

America. The bank was controlled by

13:16

a group of roughly 35 local

13:18

investors, including Haynes and his wife,

13:20

as well as Jim Tucker and

13:22

his father. No one outside Elkhart

13:24

would dictate the bank's future, and

13:26

all the profits would flow back

13:28

into the area. For years, under

13:31

Haynes' leadership, Heartland generated a reliable

13:33

dividend. Money the bank's shareholders invested

13:35

in their farms, saved for retirement,

13:37

or spent on nursing home care

13:39

for aging-aging relatives. Elkhart's

13:42

financial culture was the polar

13:44

opposite of the crypto ethos

13:46

that began to go mainstream

13:48

around the time this new

13:50

iteration of Heartland was founded.

13:52

Early crypto proponents envisioned a

13:55

fully automated form of exchange,

13:57

no bankers, no middlemen, just

13:59

lines of computer code. techno

14:01

rationality would eliminate any need

14:03

for interpersonal trust. As a career

14:06

banker, Haynes was skeptical. He

14:08

once told a colleague that anyone

14:10

who used crypto must have, quote,

14:12

something they are trying to hide.

14:14

Yet, in December 2022, after the

14:17

woman using the name Bella approached

14:19

him on social media, Haynes began

14:21

buying cryptocurrencies himself.

14:24

Bella claimed that her amp

14:26

ran a crypto firm in Australia.

14:28

and she introduced Haynes to a

14:31

website that resembled a crypto investment

14:33

platform. Soon, she and

14:35

Haynes were exchanging frequent messages

14:37

on WhatsApp, usually multiple

14:39

times a day. By the

14:42

standards of Elkhart, Haynes was already

14:44

a wealthy man, but this investment

14:46

apparently required colossal sums. Within

14:48

months, he had dipped into his

14:51

daughter's college fund, spending $60,000

14:53

on digital currencies. Online

14:56

scams are as old as the internet,

14:58

but the rise of crypto has

15:00

given con artists a valuable new

15:02

tool. Digital coins that can

15:05

be transferred instantly, without

15:07

oversight from banks legally

15:09

obligated to monitor transactions

15:11

from malfeasance. In 2023, crypto

15:13

fraud cost American investors an

15:16

estimated $4.8 billion, according to

15:18

the FBI. The scams are so

15:20

common that law enforcement authorities have

15:22

taken to calling them by a

15:25

pithy name. Pig butchering, a rough

15:27

translation of an expression widely

15:29

used in China where these

15:31

scams have proliferated in recent

15:33

years. The scammer's victim is

15:35

the pig, slowly fattened for slaughter.

15:38

The scams typically begin with

15:40

messages on LinkedIn, Facebook, or

15:42

WhatsApp, from an unknown number,

15:45

someone posing as a romantic

15:47

prospect. Sometimes the conversations lead

15:49

to business introductions, a connection

15:52

to a banker or asset

15:54

manager. with a slick headshot

15:56

and a fictional resume. The

15:59

target is off. for an investment opportunity,

16:01

often backed up by a fraudulent

16:03

website masquerading as an actual crypto

16:06

business or an app that displays

16:08

fake profits on fake account statements.

16:10

Eventually, the scams all end the

16:12

same way. The money disappears. After

16:15

draining his personal savings, Haynes began

16:17

stealing from his local investment club,

16:19

from his church, and finally from

16:22

the bank. Over a few weeks,

16:24

He ordered a series of large

16:26

wire transfers, telling his bewildered colleagues

16:29

that he was helping a client.

16:31

In May 2023, Haynes transferred $3

16:33

million from Heartland to an account

16:35

at a company called Cracken, which

16:38

offers trading and digital currencies. To

16:40

buy more crypto, he directed Heartland

16:42

to borrow about $21 million for

16:45

a network of regional lenders and

16:47

siphoned a similar amount using a

16:49

credit line that the bank maintained

16:51

with another institution. Over four weeks

16:54

in June, Haynes set 31 million

16:56

dollars of the embezzled funds to

16:58

his crack-in account. Later, as his

17:01

friends and colleagues sorted through the

17:03

wreckage, Haynes would be called a

17:05

thief, a liar, and pure evil.

17:08

But his lawyer eventually put it

17:10

differently. He was the pig that

17:12

was butchered. On July 5th, 2023,

17:14

not long before Heartland's board meeting,

17:17

Haines sent a text to a

17:19

farmer in Elkhart named Brian Mitchell.

17:21

He needed Mitchell's help with something.

17:24

Mitchell didn't have any role at

17:26

the bank, but he was used

17:28

to fielding requests from friends in

17:31

town. With a diamond stud in

17:33

one year, Mitchell stood out among

17:35

the other farmers. He was one

17:37

of the most successful people in

17:40

Elkhart, a veteran businessman who owned

17:42

a regional chain of movie theaters,

17:44

including one a block from Hardland.

17:47

When Mitchell walked into the bank

17:49

that morning, he wasn't sure what

17:51

to expect to expect. Haynes was

17:54

a long-time friend and neighbor. Their

17:56

children had grown up across the

17:58

street from each other. Maybe he

18:00

wanted advice about a medical problem.

18:03

But what Haynes actually wanted was

18:05

$12 million, immediately. It was surreal,

18:07

Mitchell recalled. Like, okay, am I

18:10

in a loan office in Elkhart,

18:12

Kansas, or am I in a

18:14

back alley in Chicago with a

18:16

loan shark? Haynes told Mitchell a

18:19

confusing story. Not long ago, Haynes

18:21

explained, he started investing in cryptocurrencies

18:23

with the help of some people

18:26

he met online. First, He and

18:28

his partners deposited money on a

18:30

reputable U.S. platform for buying and

18:33

selling crypto. The profits were enormous,

18:35

he said. He took out his

18:37

phone to show Mitchell's account balance,

18:39

which seemed to indicate that the

18:42

investment was worth $40 million. But

18:44

a problem arose after Haynes and

18:46

his partners moved the funds to

18:49

a Hong Kong trading platform that

18:51

charged lower fees, he told Mitchell.

18:53

The money had somehow gotten stuck,

18:56

and the only way to unfreeze

18:58

it was to send more. As

19:01

he sat in Haynes' glass-walled office,

19:03

Mitchell wondered what his friend got

19:05

himself into. Mitchell was not interested

19:07

in sending $12 million to a

19:09

mysterious crypto operation in Hong Kong.

19:12

Go there, hire an interpreter, and

19:14

get a cashier's check, he told

19:16

Haynes. If you think you've got

19:18

$40 million in an account, go

19:20

get it. But Haynes seemed to

19:22

have stopped listening. He was staring

19:24

past Mitchell into the bank lobby,

19:27

where his staff was arriving to

19:29

start the day. He barely reacted

19:31

when Mitchell offered his verdict. Shane,

19:33

I think you're in a scam.

19:35

Haynes was still in thrall to

19:37

the people on the other end

19:39

of his phone, whoever they were.

19:41

That day, he sent a further

19:44

$8 million to his crypto account.

19:46

In a town as small as

19:48

Elkhart, secrets barely hold for long.

19:50

Troubled by what Haynes had told

19:52

him, Mitchell alerted some contacts at

19:54

Heartland, and within weeks, the board

19:56

was holding its crisis. The board

19:59

was holding its crisis. meeting, demanding

20:01

an explanation. By the end of July,

20:03

the Kansas Banking Regulator was

20:06

examining Heartland's accounts, and a

20:08

procession of state and federal

20:10

agencies descended on Elkhart.

20:12

Heartland was insolvent. On

20:14

July 28, 2023, cargo vans and

20:17

black SUVs surrounded the bank building

20:19

on Morton Street. Staff members

20:21

gathered in the lobby where David

20:23

Herndon, the Kansas Banking Commissioner, told

20:26

them that Heartland would shut down.

20:28

On Monday, he said, it would reopen

20:30

with a new owner, a company called

20:32

Dream First, based a couple of counties

20:35

over. None of the bank's customers would

20:37

lose their deposits. Those federally

20:39

insured accounts would move over to

20:41

Dream First. But shares in the bank's

20:44

holding company were now worthless,

20:46

racing gears of investment gains.

20:48

Many of the shareholders lost the bulk

20:50

of their savings. Retirement nest

20:53

eggs and emergency funds. The

20:56

day of the closure, Tucker and his

20:58

father joined the staff in the

21:00

bank lobby. An hour earlier, Tucker

21:02

helped the older man find the

21:04

signature line on the government paperwork

21:06

that dissolved the business their family

21:08

started in 1984. It was probably

21:10

one of the hardest things I've

21:12

ever had to do, Tucker said.

21:14

We still didn't understand why. We

21:16

didn't understand what happened. The Tucker's

21:18

lost $1.4 million worth of shares,

21:21

and with them... a source of

21:23

wealth that Jim had hoped to

21:25

pass on to his children. In

21:27

the lobby, he and his father

21:29

listened as the president of Dream

21:31

First delivered a pep talk to

21:33

Heartland's staff, telling them, if you

21:35

dream it, we can help you

21:37

achieve it. At the Taylor's counter,

21:39

two young women were crying. The

21:41

building was full of people Tucker

21:43

didn't recognize, presumably government officials

21:46

overseeing the bank's closure. Some

21:48

of them carried steps tools,

21:51

ladders, ladders, ladders, and power tools.

21:53

They pushed the furniture to the

21:55

perimeter of the room and took

21:57

apart the bank's security system, removing

21:59

the cameras. Then they fanned out into

22:01

the rest of the bank and

22:03

carried away laptops and computers, piling the

22:05

hardware into the cars parked outside. The

22:08

two tuckers watched it all unfold

22:11

in front of them. Just watching it

22:13

melt, Jim Tucker recalled, burned to

22:15

the ground, right there before our eyes.

22:27

The New York Times app has all this

22:29

stuff that you may not have seen. The way

22:31

the tabs are at the top with all of the

22:33

different sections. I can immediately navigate to

22:35

something that matches what I'm feeling. Play

22:38

Wordle or Connections and then swipe

22:40

over to read today's headlines. There's

22:42

an article next to a recipe

22:44

next to games and it's just

22:46

easy to get everything in one

22:48

place. This app is

22:50

essential. The New York Times

22:52

app, all of the times,

22:54

all in one place. Download it

22:56

now at nytimes.com/app. I need

22:58

directions for paying down debt. Starting

23:00

route, apply for a SoFi personal loan

23:02

and consolidate your debt into one

23:05

fixed payment. Turn right into a positive

23:07

outlook and get $5 ,000 to $100

23:09

,000 as soon as the same day

23:11

you sign with no fees required.

23:13

Got it. You could get out of high

23:15

interest credit card debt with a SoFi

23:17

personal loan. View your rate at sofi.com/debt

23:19

in 60 seconds with no impact to

23:21

your credit score. Loans originated by SoFi

23:23

Bank and A member of FDIC terms and

23:26

conditions at sofi.com/debt in MLS 696891. The

23:38

failure of Heartland thrust Elkhart into

23:40

a state of fear and confusion. Nobody

23:43

could quite believe what happened, but

23:45

everyone seemed to agree that the money was

23:47

gone. Wire transfers out

23:49

of the banks, spiderwebbed into

23:52

an array of untraceable crypto wallets,

23:54

a federal investigator explained in

23:56

court last year. There is

23:58

no indication that anyone what is worth. is at

24:00

this point, he said, or how to access

24:02

it. Still, a few clues emerged on

24:04

the blockchain, a public ledger

24:07

of crypto transactions. Many crypto

24:09

scammers are based in Southeast

24:12

Asia, where organized crime rings

24:14

run pig-buttering operations out of

24:16

abandoned hotels and casinos. At

24:18

least some of the money that

24:20

Hain stole may have ended up

24:22

in the hands of an organization

24:25

that targeted other Americans. In

24:27

2023, The scammers who approached

24:29

Haynes appeared to have orchestrated

24:31

a similar plot that ensnared

24:33

a wealthy Minnesotan, according to

24:35

the crypto forensics firm

24:38

Chain Analysis, which analyzed the

24:40

Heartland case at the request

24:42

of the New York Times. The

24:44

man was approached on LinkedIn by a

24:46

woman who urged him to invest in

24:49

crypto and to lead his wife

24:51

for her. He lost more than $9

24:53

million. Haynes pleaded guilty to a

24:55

federal charge of embezzlement by a

24:57

bank officer, a felony that carries

24:59

a maximum sentence of 30 years

25:01

in prison. He also faces local charges

25:03

that are still pending against him.

25:06

When he was sentenced in August,

25:08

Heartland's shareholders drove four and a

25:10

half hours to the federal courthouse

25:12

in Wichita to attend the hearing. One

25:14

by one, they walked up to the

25:16

courtroom lectern and called for Haynes to

25:19

receive the longest possible sentence. They could

25:21

muster sympathy for a scam victim,

25:23

but not for someone who stole

25:25

from his neighbors. If he is released

25:28

the day he dies, that will be one

25:30

day too early, one of them told the

25:32

judge. No one in Elkhart has managed

25:34

to make sense of the mystery at

25:36

the center of the betrayal. Why did

25:38

a successful, financially sophisticated banker,

25:41

a man the whole town

25:43

trusted for decades, gamble his

25:45

life away for a shot at crypto

25:47

riches. Tucker wondered whether Haynes

25:49

had been hiding something, some secret

25:52

problem that only money could solve.

25:54

On the surface, Shane Haynes was an

25:56

upstanding and very involved member of

25:58

our community. He told... the judge

26:00

in Wichita. Now we're all left

26:02

to wonder how sincere any of

26:05

that ever was. Haynes declined requests

26:07

for an interview, and the legal

26:09

system has offered little clarity. At

26:11

the sentencing, Judge John W. Brooms,

26:14

who was overseeing the case, said

26:16

he hadn't heard anything that helps

26:18

me understand it. Even Haynes' defense

26:20

lawyer, John Stang, seemed to be

26:22

grasping for an answer. I keep

26:25

hearing the question why, he said

26:27

in court, was agreed. Was it

26:29

being gullible? Apparently he wasn't intelligent

26:31

enough. In the Wichita courtroom, Haynes

26:33

offered his only public reflection on

26:36

the bank collapse. Wearing a gray

26:38

suit, he walked up to the

26:40

lectern, glancing nervously at his former

26:42

friends in the gallery. I'm sorry,

26:45

he told the judge. Until the

26:47

very end, he explained, he thought

26:49

he was involved in a legitimate

26:51

business deal. In January at 2024,

26:53

he told the court he made

26:56

a futile attempt to recoup the

26:58

lost money, flying to Perth, Australia,

27:00

where some of his non-existent business

27:02

partners had supposedly been based. He

27:04

was in touch with them until

27:07

the moment he landed at the

27:09

airport, but no bailout materialized. It

27:11

was only then, months after the

27:13

bank shuddered, that he accepted he

27:16

had been tricked. While forever struggle

27:18

understanding how it was duped, Hayne

27:20

said, I should have caught it,

27:22

but I didn't. After

27:25

Haynes finished speaking, Judge Brooms rocked

27:27

backwards in his chair and turned

27:29

to face the shareholders. The best

27:32

thing for you is to forgive

27:34

this man, he said. Leave matters

27:36

of retribution to me. That's my

27:39

job, and I'll see that it's

27:41

done. He sentenced Haynes to 24

27:43

years and five months in prison,

27:46

a punishment even greater than federal

27:48

prosecutors had requested. A chorus of

27:50

yeses echoed from the shareholders from

27:53

the shareholders. Haynes' shoulders

27:55

slumped as two U.S. marshals approached

27:57

him. He undidest. High slipped off

27:59

his suit jacket and emptied his

28:02

pockets. Behind him, the shareholders went

28:04

quiet. Haynes' sister and one of

28:06

his daughters clung to each other,

28:08

their sobs breaking the silence. Haynes

28:10

looked at them once, quickly, before

28:12

the marshals handcuffed him and let

28:15

him out of the room. One

28:17

day last October, Tucker got a

28:19

call from an investigator at the

28:21

FBI. It was good news. Federal

28:23

officials had recovered $8 million of

28:25

the stolen funds, which had been

28:28

hidden in an account full of

28:30

tether, a popular cryptocurrency. The stash

28:32

was a small fraction of what

28:34

Haynes stole, but it would be

28:36

enough to reimburse the shareholders for

28:38

nearly all the money they had

28:41

invested in the bank. The jubilation

28:43

Tucker might have expected to feel

28:45

was tempered by sadness. His father

28:47

had been in and out of

28:49

the hospital, and a doctor warned

28:51

that he had only days left

28:54

to live. That night, Tucker went

28:56

to his father's hospital room and

28:58

shared what he had heard. Bill

29:00

Tucker blinked a few times and

29:02

then said, Oh my. He died

29:04

a week later. In Elkhart, Tucker

29:07

and the other shareholders were still

29:09

searching for answers, an explanation that

29:11

makes sense. For decades, they felt

29:13

bound to their neighbors by ties

29:15

of family and friendship, ties that

29:18

turned out to be weaker than

29:20

they supposed. And then their lives

29:22

were upended by a chain of

29:24

connections they had never imagined, invisible

29:26

links to villains on the other

29:28

side of the world. After the

29:31

bank collapsed, Tucker started therapy, hoping

29:33

he could reach a sense of

29:35

equilibrium. For now, though, he relishes

29:37

the idea that Haynes will suffer

29:39

in prison, enduring sleepless nights and

29:41

days filled with misery. The demise

29:44

of Heartland is still a source

29:46

of pain. The last 15, 16

29:48

months of my dad's life, this

29:50

was what was on his mind,

29:52

Tucker said. He lived a good

29:54

life. He was a good person.

29:57

And then that's what he goes

29:59

out with. Elkhart

30:01

was once just a little

30:03

farming town in the middle of

30:05

nowhere, town cut off from everything

30:07

but the land itself. off from

30:09

It was a place whose isolation

30:11

was part of its charm, a

30:13

where neighbors prayed together and

30:15

relied on each other. where neighbors Now

30:18

every time Tucker drives past

30:20

the bank, other. Now reminded of a

30:22

Tucker betrayal. the bank, he's reminded of a that

30:24

was broken, he said, The trust

30:26

his voice trailing off. he said. His voice

30:28

That one That one stings. And

30:38

now, a next level moment from

30:40

AT&T business. Say you've sent out

30:42

a gigantic shipment of pillows, and

30:44

they need to be there in

30:46

time for international sleep day. You've

30:48

got AT&T 5G, so you're fully

30:50

confident. But, the vendor isn't responding.

30:52

An international sleep day is tomorrow.

30:54

Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal

30:56

with any issues with ease, so

30:58

the pillows will get delivered and

31:00

everyone can sleep soundly. Especially you.

31:03

AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan

31:05

and device. device.