FORT WORTH, Texas - Caleb Deason, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to serve a total of 120 months in federal prison, following his conviction at trial in December 2013 on one count each of wire fraud and money laundering. Departing upward from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Judge McBryde remarked that it was obvious to him that Deason was nothing more than a “con man and a flim-flam" who has been amoral in the majority of his dealings in his professional life. Judge McBryde also ordered Deason to pay $99,491 in restitution. U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas made the announcement today.
Deason owned and operated CD Financial, a financial services business in Fort Worth. He was an agent of Transamerica Life Insurance Company from November 2006 through May 2012. In October 2011, Deason sold an individual a Transamerica policy with a death benefit of approximately $1 million.
In January 2012 the insured died unexpectedly. Transamerica conducted extensive due diligence before agreeing to pay the policy’s death benefit to the insured’s wife. However, Deason fraudulently changed the bank account and routing information and forged the beneficiary’s signature on a Transamerica wire request form in order to divert the proceeds from the life insurance policy to his own personal use, which included purchasing a 2010 Range Rover. The Range Rover was administratively forfeited by the U.S. Secret Service.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Texas Department of Insurance investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Poe and John de la Garza prosecuted.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
