James Arthur Booker, 37, and five others were charged on May 4, 2011with 29 felony counts of bank fraud (defrauding banks out of more than $3 million).
According to the indictment, primary suspect Andrea Lorraine Avery, 44, of Los Angeles and the other defendants stole the identities of people with good credit scores to establish lines of credit and used the money for personal expenses.
In addition to Avery and Booker, those charged are Kirkland Charles, 46, of Beverly Hills; William Earl Gordon, 59, of Little Rock, Ark.; Bill James Releford, 51, of Los Angeles; and Annita Hawes, 46, of Los Angeles.
Avery also is charged with making false statements to the banks. Avery, Releford, Charles and Gordon are also charged with aiding and abetting the false statements.
The group obtained dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit profiles, FICO scores and driver's license numbers to complete fraudulent applications for business lines of credit at Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank branches.
The stolen identities also were used to create phony corporate officers of shell corporations that did not exist, the FBI said.
Phony corporate officers were also created. In order to fool bank employees who made on-site inspections, the defendants created fake offices where they posed as employees to make it look like the corporations were legitimate.
Once the applications were approved, banks deposited money into the accounts, usually in amounts of $100,000.
The defendants liquidated accounts in a few days, making checks payable to themselves. Avery received 10 to 15 percent of the credit line. The remainder was shared among the rest.
If convicted of all counts, the defendants face maximum sentences ranging from 750 to 870 years in prison.
Fraud is an extremely serious felony charges. It can result in long term prison time and very large fines.
If you or someone you know is being charged with any type of fraud, you need an experienced, qualified, and aggressive criminal defense attorney to fight on your behalf.
We at Hedding Law Firm have the diligence, zeal, and experience to help you.
We place every effort to get the best results possible for our clients by gathering and contesting all the evidence presented against them.
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