FRAUD SCHEME INDICTMENT IN PLANO

In Plano, Texas, a North Carolina man has been indicted on fraud charges. A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas voted to charge him with wire fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft. He was arrested when he arrived in McKinney, Texas, to pick up a check from one of the victims. The 27-year-old man will remain in federal custody while he awaits the pending trial.

The federal criminal charges involve an oil and gas scheme. The man is alleged to have created the scheme in order to defraud another person by filing fraudulent overriding royalty interest assignments in Colorado and in Wyoming that belonged to other parties, one of whom owned a royalty company in Texas.

The man is facing up to 20 years in federal prison and two years each for the aggravated theft counts. The federal investigation is being conducted by the FBI.

People who are charged with white collar crimes such as fraud, identity theft, insider trading and money laundering can be facing incarceration if they are ultimately convicted. The penalties for federal crimes can be steep, and a person may have to serve a longer sentence prior to being eligible for parole in federal prison than they would have to serve for being convicted of similar crimes in state prison. The federal government has immense resources to investigate and prosecute this type of case, so a person charged with a federal crime may wish to consult with an experienced criminal defense lawyer in order to come with an effective strategy to use before or at trial.