Covington Businessman Charged with Defrauding Bank

The owner of a Covington development and construction company has been charged with fraudulently obtaining a multimillion-dollar bank loan.

Raymond Grow II, owner and operator of Masters Built Construction LLC, was charged Wednesday in federal court with one count of making a false statement to a bank.

A court filing says Grow's company obtained a $3.4 million loan from First American Bank to pay for building a subdivision on a 22-acre parcel of property in Ponchatoula.

Grow allegedly provided the bank with a bogus letter from the Army Corps of Engineers that claimed only a small percentage of wetlands existed on the land he wanted to develop.

Grow is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 31.