Bank Fraud- Florida

A federal grand jury in Jacksonville earlier this year returned a seven-count indictment, charging U.S. Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Special Agent John Thomas, Jr. with one count of conspiracy, three counts of bank fraud, and three counts of making false statements on loan and credit applications. ^[1]

Thomas pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to defraud three banks of $106,000.^[2]

Between March 1999 and August 2000, Thomas obtained a loan from each of the three banks in the name of Zan Tan Man Enterprises, a purported computer service provider. ^[3] Thomas falsely claimed in loan applications that the company had more than $500,000 in annual revenue, several years of experience, and six to eight employees.^[4] The indictment alleged that Zan Tan Man Enterprises was actually a company Thomas created for the purpose of obtaining the three loans and that it had no revenue, no experience in the computer field, and no employees. ^[5]

Bank Fraud is the "criminal offense of knowingly executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud a financial institution, or to obtain property owned by or under the control of a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises." ^[6]

The maximum penalty Thomas can receive on the conspiracy count is up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. ^[7] The punishment for bank fraud under U.S.C § 1344 is a fine of not more than $ 1,000,000, imprisonment for not more than 30 years, or both.^[8]

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[1] Department of Treasury Special Agent Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Conspiracy, The U.S. Department of Justice via EarthTimes.org, February 23, 2007
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 685 (8th ed. 2005).
[7] See Department, supra note 1.
[8] 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (2005).