Home St. Louis Press Releases 2010 New York Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges Involving a St. Louis Commercial Finance Company
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New York Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges Involving a St. Louis Commercial Finance Company

U.S. Attorney’s Office July 29, 2010
  • Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS, MO—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Brian Avery Smith, 37, of Buffalo, New York and Atlanta, Georgia, pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme involving a St. Louis Commercial Finance Company.

Smith admitted forming a shell company called Smith Heating and Cooling, LLC and submitting false applications for credit in the name of people purportedly seeking to finance HVAC improvements to their homes through the shell company. At the time the scheme was being perpetrated in 2008, Smith was living in Atlanta. He had met a corrupt employee of FTL Finance Partners, a St. Louis area company, in Atlanta and had gotten information about how to defraud FTL from that employee.

In all, Smith admitted to defrauding FTL of more than $30,000 through two fraudulent transactions. Judge Jean C. Hamilton accepted Smith's guilty plea to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine. Restitution will also be ordered. Sentencing will take place on October 22, 2010.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Albus handled the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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