CHRISTOPHER MCQUEEN ARRESTED ON BANK FRAUD INDICTMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division today announced that Christopher McQueen, 34, of Jacksonville, Florida, has been arrested on a seven-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jacksonville on March 4, 2004. McQueen was arrested today by agents of the U. S. Postal Inspection Service and U. S. Secret Service in Jacksonville, Florida, pursuant to an arrest warrant. McQueen is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing this afternoon before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.

The indictment charges that McQueen defrauded the victim banks, Bank of America and AmSouth Bank of over $170,000 by assisting co-conspirators in obtaining loans and lines of credit in the names of fictitious and non-existent business entities. For example, the indictment alleges that on April 7, 1999, McQueen and others made an application for a $50,000 line of credit at Bank of America for a business named “Brad Kirkland C.P.A.,” and submitted false information regarding the prior 12 month’s sales and number of employees. In the above example, the indictment alleges that McQueen and his co-conspirators knew that both the business and submitted supporting information were false. The indictment alleges that McQueen and others repeated that scheme several times, using the names of various fictitious businesses. Funds from these fraudulent loans and lines of credit were then obtained and distributed among the co-conspirators for their personal use and benefit.

Previously, in related cases, Roy Tolliver and Christopher Kirkland pleaded guilty to separate Informations charging them with conspiracy and both were sentenced on January 22, 2004. Tolliver was sentenced to 15 months in prison, while Kirkland was sentenced to five months in prison.

The investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service is ongoing. Joshua R. Hochberg is Acting United States Attorney for this case, and the prosecution is being handled by Russell M. Soloway and Michael J. Dumont, attorneys for the Fraud Section, Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

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