11th former Reagor Dykes Auto Group employee sentenced for role in floor plan fraud
Paige Johnston, an office manager at the Reagor Dykes Auto Group location in Floydada, was sentenced to 27 months in prison Tuesday in Amarillo federal court for her involvement in a floor plan fraud scheme that spanned numerous locations of the auto group in multiple cities.
Johnston, who initially pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud back in October 2019, joins 10 other employees from the auto group who have been sentenced for their respective involvement in the scheme. A total of 16 individuals, including Bart Reagor, the auto group's founder, as well as Shane Smith, the auto group’s chief financial officer, have been charged with fraud.
According to previous reports from the Amarillo Globe-News and Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Reagor Dykes Auto Group filed for bankruptcy in 2018 after Ford Motor Credit Company sued the dealership, alleging fraud. In a federal investigation, officials found that the group defrauded Ford Motor Credit, the auto group’s main lender, in a $50 million scheme, with employees instituting “dummy flooring” and “double flooring” schemes, while concealing the fraud by cross-depositing checks across several banks, a ploy known as check-kiting.
In the hearings which have occurred so far, employees who have pled guilty to their involvement in the scheme have been given sentences ranging from 24 months to 42 months in prison on counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud or counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Read more: https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/2021/05/20/former-reagor-dykes-auto-group-floydada-employee-sentenced-role-floor-plan-fraud/5185192001/
= new reply since forum marked as read
