United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces today that Senior United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade sentenced Donna Marie Allison, 54, a resident of Springtown, Texas, to 12 months imprisonment for committing wire fraud. The judge ordered that Allison undergo three years of supervised release after finishing her term of imprisonment and pay a $100 mandatory special assessment. The judge also imposed credit restrictions upon Allison and ordered that she pay $190,000 in restitution to her financial victim.
Allison admitted certain facts as part of her guilty plea. From around Feb. 1, 2012 to around April 1, 2014, Allison devised and participated in a scheme to defraud individuals seeking financing. She represented herself as the head of CRF Investors LLC. Allison falsely represented that her business would offer loans to companies seeking financing for various projects. In this case, Allison falsely represented that she and CRF Investors LLC would provide financing for an assisted living facility in Meridian, Mississippi. Allison’s financial victim was another entity that was trying to build the facility. Allison had the victim sign loan commitment agreements that required the victim to pay an “advance fee" of $190,000 to her company to cover interest for the loan. In truth, as Allison knew, the agreements were a ploy to obtain money from the victim, who received nothing in return. To induce the victim to pay the advance fee, Allison falsely represented that she and her company had obtained similar financing in the past for others and that funding would be available shortly after payment of the advance fee.
On March 31, 2016, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama indicted Allison on eight counts of wire fraud. On Feb. 26, 2018, Allison pleaded guilty before Judge Granade to one count of wire fraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
