Chason Reed Peck, a 37-year-old resident of Palm City, has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering in federal court. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe. Peck could face up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and up to 10 years for each money laundering count. He has also agreed to forfeit $300,000, which authorities say are proceeds from his offenses. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to court documents, Peck applied for business financing from Deere & Company (also known as John Deere) on February 3, 2017. Later, on February 16, 2020, he sought an increase in his John Deere credit limit to $300,000 by submitting a hand-written financial application through an agricultural store representative in Ocala. Prosecutors state that the application included false information about his finances—Peck claimed he had approximately $3 million in cash assets and owned 1,500 acres of farmland. In reality, investigators found he had only about $6,000 in cash and farmed roughly 60 acres.
Based on these misrepresentations, Peck obtained the higher credit line and additional business loans described as “liquid credit.” He used this increased borrowing capacity to make three payments totaling $274,673 toward debts owed to his employer.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation into Peck’s activities. Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Nowalk Watson is prosecuting the case.
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