Denny Hecker faces 18 new federal counts in alleged conspiracy and fraud

A federal grand jury has tagged another 10 counts of bankruptcy fraud and eight counts of wire fraud onto Denny Hecker's federal indictment, which alleges a conspiracy to defraud financial lenders and others out of millions of dollars. The panel also added eight counts of wire fraud to Hecker's indictment, and eight counts of wire fraud to the indictment of Hecker associate Steven Leach

Read the superseding indictment sheet here.

If convicted, Hecker and Leach face a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 20 years on each count of wire fraud. Hecker also faces 10 years in prison on a money laundering count and five years in prison on each bankruptcy fraud count.

The news comes after recent reports that Hecker's defense attorneys in the criminal case, Bill Mauzy and Marsh Halberg, resigned because Hecker can't pay them.

We also recently learned that James Gustafson, who worked for Hecker's auto leasing company, is the target of a federal investigation related to Hecker's personal $767 million bankruptcy.

Bill Prohofsky, a friend and former in-law of Hecker's, and who was enmeshed in Hecker's seemingly endless financial troubles, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head last Thursday.