Multimillion Dollar Fraudster Returned to Prison For Structuring Transactions While On Supervised Release

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Wake Forest man was sentenced to 36 months in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release and structuring transactions to avoid reporting requirements.  Ricky Lamont Congleton, age 53, pled guilty to the charge on November 9, 2022.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Congleton was previously sentenced to 66 months in prison in October of 2014, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for orchestrating a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud upon various banks.  In that scheme, Congleton and others used “straw buyers” to purchase properties that he and others had developed.  Congleton then, with the assistance of a conspiring attorney, sold the properties at a discount by concealing from banks that he had supplied the downpayments on the sales.

After being released from prison, but while on federal supervision, an investigation was opened into Congleton’s movement of large amounts of cash into bank accounts that were then used to purchase new properties.  The investigation ultimately uncovered that, to evade reporting requirements, Congleton broke approximately $100,000 in cash into small amounts and deposited it into different banks in different cities. This act of breaking up cash transactions to avoid bank reporting requirements is a federal criminal offense and is commonly known as “structuring.”  Not only did Congleton commit structuring, but he also did so while under federal supervision. 

At sentencing, the Court sentenced Congleton to the top of the guideline range – 24 months in prison, followed by an additional consecutive year for committing the offense while on supervised release. Congleton was also sentenced to an additional three years of supervised release.

Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge James C. Dever, III. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Gilmore prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 5:12-CR-1-1D and 7:22-cr-00108-D.

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