Georgetown Home Builder Indicted for Bank Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 05, 2012 |
LEXINGTON, KY—A home builder from Georgetown, Kentucky is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than a million dollars in loans from a Frankfort bank.
A federal grand jury in Lexington indicted 58-year-old Lee C. Tevis for bank fraud, conspiracy, making false statements in a loan application, aiding and abetting bank embezzlement, and aggravated identity theft.
The indictment alleges that starting in 2006 Tevis began construction on a house and fraudulently obtained more loans from American Founders Bank (AFB) than he was entitled to receive. He obtained the loans by setting up shell corporations in the names of other people to bypass AFB’s loan limits.
Tevis allegedly used some of the money from loans obtained to construct a house in Frankfort to pay off debt on other construction projects.
Since Tevis reached his loan limits, he allegedly set up a bogus corporation named Two Amigos, LLC, in the name of his company’s foreman, even though Tevis was the true recipient of the loans. The indictment accuses Tevis of using the Social Security number of the foreman’s 5-year-old son to pass the bank’s credit check.
Tevis fraudulently received approximately $1.4 million in loans from the bank, according to the indictment. The bank eventually foreclosed on the home, but allegedly suffered a significant financial loss.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General, jointly announced the indictment after it was returned.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the FDIC. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Sparks and James Arehart represented the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case.
A date for Tevis to appear in court in Lexington has not yet been set. If convicted, Tevis faces a mandatory two years on the identity theft charges and up to 30 years in prison on the other charges. However, before the court can impose a sentence following a conviction, it must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes.
The indictment of a person by a grand jury is an accusation only, and that person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.