Fort Worth Man Sentenced to 16 Months in Federal Prison for Making a False Statement in a Bankruptcy Case

DALLAS — A Fort Worth man, Alton Alexis, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 16 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in May 2016 to an Information charging one count of making a false statement under penalty of perjury, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. 

Alexis, 58, must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on October 18, 2016.

According to documents filed in the case, in January 2010, Alexis, on behalf of borrower NSAA Investment Group, signed a promissory note with One World Bank for a loan of approximately $3,744,050 to finance the construction of a movie theatre restaurant.  From early 2010 through early 2011, Alexis caused more than $2 million in loan proceeds to be disbursed from One World Bank to accounts in the name of BBA Construction Company and/or NSAA Investment Group.  Alexis later submitted three fictitious invoices to One World Bank which caused at least $245,000 of those loan proceeds to be fraudulently diverted to bank accounts he controlled.  Alexis then used these diverted loan proceeds to pay his personal debts. 

In May 2011, Alexis made a material false statement in a bankruptcy case, In re Alton Alexis and Althea Lynette Alexis, filed in the Northern District of Texas, when he filed an Amended Statement of Financial Affairs that falsely represented he had truthfully disclosed all income received in the two years immediately preceding the commencement of the case.  Instead of truthfully disclosing all income, Alexis fraudulently concealed the $245,000 of income, in the form of fraudulently diverted loan proceeds, he received in 2010.

According to testimony presented at today’s hearing, Alexis was involved in additional relevant conduct, to include:  he concealed a prior felony conviction when he applied for the One World Bank loan; he fraudulently diverted a total of $480,423 of One World Bank loan proceeds and used these loan proceeds for his mortgage payments, college and private school tuition, property taxes, and trips to England and Mexico, among other things; and he submitted two false IRS forms to One World Bank to conceal his receipt of these loan proceeds for his personal use and benefit.

This case is one of several felony prosecutions of bankruptcy-related crimes generated by the Bankruptcy Fraud Initiative in the Northern District of Texas.  This defendant is the 16^th defendant convicted since August 2013 as part of that initiative. 

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jarvis was in charge of the prosecution.

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