While it is illegal under federal law to knowingly participate in a ‘scheme or artifice to defraud,’ generally, it is a separate offense to knowingly “defraud a financial institution” or “obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities…of a financial institution by means of false or fraudulent pretenses.” This offense is otherwise known as bank fraud and carries up to a $1,000,000 fine and 30 years in prison under 18 USC 1344.