ATLANTA - Nicholas L. Thomas has been sentenced to serve three years and ten months for conspiring to commit bank fraud by submitting fraudulent loan applications to a local car dealer.
“Thomas’s scheme represents a classic fraud conspiracy where false paperwork for car loans enabled him to steal the bank’s money and walk away with the cars," said Acting United States Attorney John Horn.
“The United States Secret Service will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to investigate and arrest those who commit bank fraud. Today’s sentencing shows that those who ignore the law for their personal gain will face the consequences in court," said Reginald G. Moore, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office.
According to Acting United States Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: In September 2013, Thomas and unindicted coconspirator C.W. met with a salesman at a Ford dealership in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and agreed to purchase three 2013 Ford Fusions in the name of a Georgia company whose identity they had stolen. During the negotiations, Thomas and C.W. fraudulently represented that Thomas owned the company and was authorized by the company to purchase the vehicles. Thomas and C.W. provided false information and fraudulent documents to the dealership and submitted false credit applications to a federally insured bank in order to obtain financing for the vehicles.
In reliance upon the false information and documents provided by Thomas and C.W., the bank made three loans totaling approximately $75,000, and the dealership delivered the vehicles to Thomas. The evidence showed that Thomas and C.W. had engaged in similar conduct prior to this, and that the total loss to various banks as a result of the conspiracy exceeded $400,000.
Thomas, 31, of Atlanta, Ga., has been sentenced to three years, ten months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $400,518.19. Thomas was convicted on these charges on Oct. 10, 2014, after he pleaded guilty.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service.
Assistant United States Attorney J. Russell Phillips prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
