Fort Myers Attorney Indicted for Fraud

FORT MYERS, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces the return by a grand jury of an indictment charging John E. Evans, III (31, of Fort Myers) with wire fraud and failure to file an income tax return. If convicted on both counts, Evans faces a maximum penalty of 31 years in federal prison.

According to the indictment, as part of a scheme to defraud, Evans allegedly had a Uniform Residential Loan Application prepared in his name for a mortgage on a real property located in Cape Coral, Florida containing false information. Evans’s loan application contained false representations concerning his monthly income, his assets, and the amount of the deposit he was making on the property. On or about February 29, 2008, in Lee County, Florida, Evans further executed the scheme to defraud by having $616,250.00 wire transferred from GBC Funding, in the state of Georgia, to an account at SunTrust Bank, in the name of Oxford Title and Escrow, Inc., (Cape Coral, Florida). Further, according to the indictment, Evans willfully failed to file an Income Tax Return for 2008.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, United States Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.