two businessmen, who were indicted in October 2007, allegedly presented false financial information to American International Group Inc.

More than a year after the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of a Rio Grande Valley construction company were indicted on bank fraud charges, the case continues to make its way through federal court.In the midst of the financial crisis, the charges against Mitchell Kent Sweezy and Claude Oakley McMillon Jr. might highlight weaknesses in the some of the country's most venerable banking and insurance companies.The two businessmen, who were indicted in October 2007, allegedly presented false financial information to American International Group Inc. to obtain $30 million in performance bonds for Sweezy Construction Inc. AIG issued bonds to the company from 1999 to 2001. When Sweezy later asked for an additional $20 million in performance bonds, AIG agreed to provide the funds. The businessmen allegedly submitted false information to numerous lending institutions in Texas and New York in addition to AIG, obtaining millions of dollars in loans and lines of credit.Six years later, FBI agents nabbed Sweezy in Houston and McMillon in Brownsville, charging both men with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud. McMillion pleaded guilty in January, claiming he was instructed by Sweezy to falsify SCI's financial statements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen set a trial date for April 2009. Evidence relevant to the trial will likely include several thousand pages of documents from nine companies and trusts allegedly controlled by Sweezy, a federal prosecutor said during the hearing. All nine entities are involved in the allegations - a convoluted web of fraud and misrepresentation."With a multibillion dollar company like AIG, these cases of fraud are difficult to catch," said Ernie Csiszar, a professor of finance at the University of South Carolina and director of the university's school of Risk and Uncertainty Management Initiative. "They have anti-fraud measures in place, but they're never perfect