Former Manteno Car Dealer to Serve Over Three Years in Prison and Pay $6.8 Million Restitution to Bank and Ford Motor Company

URBANA, IL—U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey has ordered the former owner of a Manteno, Illinois car dealership, Thomas McClain, to serve 42 months (three years, six months) in federal prison and to pay $6,844,548 in restitution to a local bank and to Ford Motor Credit. McClain, 57, of Bourbonnais, Illinois, was ordered to report on July 31, 2012, to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his prison sentence.

During the hearing on June 13, the government recommended a sentence of 71 months in prison for the fraud related to the defendant’s operation of Don McClain Ford from January 2008 to February 2010. McClain pled guilty on January 11, 2012, to one count each of bank fraud and money laundering. McClain admitted that he caused fraudulent entries to be made to the dealership’s financial statements to make it appear that the dealership had a positive month-end cash balance, when, in reality, it often had a negative cash balance. Further, McClain admitted that he submitted false statements to Ford Motor Credit and to the bank in order to obtain and maintain various operating loans as well as a “floor plan” agreement with Ford Motor Company to obtain new Ford vehicles on credit to sell to customers.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the FDIC Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller.