H. Dennis Smiley Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud

H. Dennis Smiley, the former president of Arvest Bank-Benton County, on Aug. 25 pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of bank fraud and faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for duping up to 20 banks out of more than $4 million by pledging his personal Arvest stock as collateral.

Smiley, 52, is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond, and until the time of his sentencing, must adhere to restrictions on travel and expenditures. The fraud to which he admitted involved a $245,126 loan he obtained in February 2014 from the Bella Vista branch of Delta Trust and Bank.

A month after the Delta loan, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened its case, and according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Smiley started cooperating with investigators. He told them he had been living beyond his means for a decade, and in so doing, had “directed and caused subordinates and other executives at Arvest to sign various documents which falsely assured the banks that the collateral was unencumbered and would be available to satisfy the loans if the loans weren’t paid back, an admission that was also confirmed by a review of the bank records.”

According to court records, Smiley’s collateral was worth less than $500,000. Also listed in the court documents is HDS Holdings LLC, a business Smiley owned with his father, H. Dennis Smiley Sr., and Design for the Home LLC, a company Smiley owned with his wife, Cynthia Smiley.

Smiley is represented by W.H. Taylor of Taylor Law Partners LLP of Fayetteville. The case is in the court of U.S. district judge P.K. Holmes. Acting U.S. attorney Kenneth Elser is the prosecutor.