Arlington Man Sentenced to 55 Months in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Commit Wire Fraud
Defendant Represented Himself as a CPA to Assist Individuals and Businesses Obtain Fraudulent Line-of-Credit Loans

DALLAS—Robert Pauley, 56, of Arlington, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to 55 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2,595,000 in restitution for assisting individuals and businesses with fraudulent line-of-credit loans. Judge Kinkeade ordered that Pauley surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on January 15, 2014. Judge Kinkeade further ordered Pauley to surrender his certified public accountant (CPA) license and to not practice in the field of accounting during the term of his supervised release. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

In November 2012, Pauley pleaded guilty to an information charging one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, admitting that from at least July 2008 through at least December 2011, he conspired with others to make and submit false and fraudulent statements to banks in connection with personal and business line-of-credit loans. A line-of-credit loan is a no-collateral loan based on the financial condition of the borrower.

The financial institutions funded the loans based on favorable personal financial statements and false tax returns prepared by Pauley for the loan applications. Pauley admits that he misrepresented his status as a CPA to the financial institutions by failing to inform them that his CPA license had been revoked. He received a percentage of the loan funds as a commission.

In November 2010, for example, Pauley prepared and submitted a loan application and supporting documents that contained false and fraudulent information to Regions Bank for a $200,000 loan in the name of DFW Royal Investments LLC. Among other things, the tax returns provided to Regions Bank were fictitious in that they falsely identified the guarantor’s personal income as more than $300,000, when in was fact, it was approximately $38,000. Pauley admitted that he submitted the false tax returns with the specific intent to defraud Regions Bank and that by making the false statements to secure the $200,000 loan, Pauley placed Regions Bank at risk of financial loss or civil liability.

The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Nicholas Bunch was in charge of the prosecution.