United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

USED CAR DEALER IN AMARILLO
SENTENCED TO 27 MONTHS IN PRISON
AND ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $320,000 IN RESTITUTION
FOLLOWING BANK FRAUD CONVICTION

LUBBOCK, Tx. - Amarillo, Texas, resident, Christopher Ray Campbell, 33, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings, to 27 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Cummings also ordered that Campbell pay $322,403 in restitution. Campbell, who has been on bond since his surrender to federal authorities in November on charges outlined in a federal indictment returned by a grand jury in Amarillo, Texas, was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on or before June 7, 2007.

Campbell operated Silver Star Motor Company, a used car business located at 4033 Canyon Drive in Amarillo. In documents filed in Court, Campbell admitted that from April 2005 through February 2006, he ran a scheme to defraud financial institutions. When he was unable to secure financing for all of the vehicles he wished to purchase for his business, he persuaded other car dealers he knew to help him obtain financing for the vehicles. These other car dealers had bank accounts at Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas; State National Bank of Groom, Amarillo Branch, Amarillo, Texas; Herring National Bank, Amarillo, Texas; First National Bank, Borger, Texas; and Hereford State Bank, Hereford, Texas. The car dealers charged Campbell a fee for allowing him to use their credit. When Silver Star got into financial difficulty, Campbell began “kiting” vehicle drafts and checks, knowing that there was a time interval between the time that vehicle drafts were sent from the financial institution to which they were presented and the time that they were delivered to the financial institution upon which they were drawn. .

Campbell also deposited vehicle drafts using vehicle titles that either had not been purchased or sold or titles that were overinflated and thereby kited worthless drafts through the banks. He also deposited worthless and insufficient checks into other bank accounts and on or before the date such worthless and insufficient fund checks reached the originating banks for payment or were discovered to be fraudulent, other worthless, insufficient and fraudulent drafts and checks were deposited into those account to keep the “kite” in operation. When the “kite” came down, vehicles were repossessed. Following the offset, the loss to Amarillo National Bank is approximately $320,219.80.

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christy Drake of the Amarillo, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office and Jeffrey Haag of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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