A Braintree resident and former bank loan officer has agreed to plead guilty to participating in a three-year scheme that involved submitting fraudulent loan applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Brian Ferris, 43, was charged this week in Boston federal court with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Also charged in the case were Ted Capodilupo, 56, of South Easton, and Joseph Masci, 70, of Boston, who operated a loan brokerage business. The U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement that the men have agreed to plead guilty to the scheme to defraud an unidentified Massachusetts-based bank and the SBA.

According to the U.S attorney’s statement, between 2015 and 2018, Capodilupo, Masci and Ferris agreed to defraud the bank and the SBA by submitting fraudulent loan applications to a bank that administered the SBA’s small business express loan program, which is part of the SBA’s 7(a) program. The loans are partially guaranteed by the SBA.

Prosecutors allege that Capodilupo and Masci submitted dozens of fraudulent loan applications to the bank on behalf of borrowers ineligible for traditional business loans. These loan applications misrepresented the identity of the real loan recipients, the businesses seeking the loans and other items, according to the U.S. attorney’s statement.

Capodilupo and Masci also allegedly fabricated federal tax forms submitted to support the loan applications, falsified applicant signatures and falsely indicated that no broker had assisted in preparing or referring the loan applications, the statement said. Capodilupo and Masci allegedly charged borrowers fees for obtaining these fraudulent loans.

Ferris, who worked as a loan officer at the unidentified bank, allegedly caused the bank to issue loans based on these applications and received a kickback from Capodilupo and Masci of approximately $500 per loan, the statement said.

The alleged scheme generated approximately $270,000 in fees for Capodilupo and Masci. The U.S. attorney’s office said that many of the loans issued based on the fraudulent applications ultimately defaulted, resulting in substantial losses to the bank.

According to court documents, Capodilupo and Masci were loan brokers and principals of MJD Group LLC and also did business under the names ABM Financial Group and Asist2finance.

Court documents identify the bank only as a bank with headquarters in Springfield, and the U.S. attorney’s office refused to identify the institution.

At the time that the U.S. attorney’s office alleges the scheme began in 2015, only two banks were headquartered in Springfield: Hampden Bank and Nuvo Bank. Both of those banks were acquired in 2015, with Berkshire Bank acquiring Hampden Bank and Nuvo Bank being acquired by Vermont-based Merchants Bank, which was subsequently acquired by New York-based Community Bank. Representatives of either banks could not immediately be reached for comment.