Date: 05-20-2016

Case Style: United States of America v. Kevin Kenard Howard

Case Number: 3:15-cr-00495-B

Judge: Irma C. Ramirez

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: David Jarvis

Defendant's Attorney: Laura S. Harper - FPD

Description: Dallas, TX - Dallas Man Faces Up to 20 Years in Federal Prison on Wire Fraud Conviction

Kevin Kenard Howard of Dallas appeared in federal court today, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez, and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from his work with Ellis Wamsley, IV and the FAIM Economic Development Corporation.

Howard, 34, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a fine not to exceed $250,000, or twice any pecuniary gain to the defendant, and restitution. He will remain on bond pending sentencing, which is set for September 1, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle.

Ellis Wamsley, IV, of Grand Prairie, Texas, a co-defendant in the case, has filed plea papers and is scheduled to plead guilty on May 24, 2016, to one count of engaging in a monetary transaction with property derived from specified unlawful activity and aiding and abetting.

According to documents filed in the case, Wamsley formed FAIM in 2003, and in 2010, as its CEO, hired Howard to work as a financial consultant to assist in recruiting investors for FAIM. In summer 2010, while trying to recruit these investors to supply additional cash revenue for FAIM, Howard and Wamsley recruited “M.R.,” the owner/operator of “Company R,” in Flower Mound, Texas. They advised M.R. that a proposed joint venture between FAIM and Company R would generate funding for FAIM economic development projects in the southern sector of Dallas and throughout the U.S.

In August 2010, M.R. wired $2 million to a FAIM brokerage account at Charles Schwab. Approximately one month later, Wamsley transferred $1,791,703 in Company R’s investment funds from that account to a FAIM Merrill Lynch brokerage account that he had established and to which M.R. did not have access.

Wamsley told Howard that Howard would be FAIM’s primary point of contact with M.R. After the first few trades, the joint venture began to lose money. Wamsley told Howard to hide the investment losses from M.F. Howard agreed to, and did, lie to M.R. about the trading losses and the true balance of the investment account.

Howard knowingly participated in the fraud scheme by sending lulling emails to M.R. that contained false information about the true balance and value of the account. In November 2010, Howard sent an email to M.R. falsely assuring M.R. that profits in the investment account had increased. In December 2010, Howard sent an email to M.R. in which he falsely represented that the account balance was $2,436,611. In January 2011, Howard sent another email saying the total account balance was $2,500,000. In fact, from October 2010 to August 2011, Howard, at Wamsley’s instruction, sent several emails to M.R. with the specific intent to deceive, mislead and confuse M.R. about the account’s true balance. Wamsley and Howard also concealed that fact that Wamsley was diverting some of the funds in the account for his own personal benefit and use.

For instance, from October 2010 through April 2012, Wamsley fraudulently transferred more than $1.7 million of Company R investment funds to FAIM’s business accounts, and he unlawfully spent those funds for his, Howard’s and others’ personal benefits. For example, in November 2010, Wamsley used $40,024 in Company R investment funds to purchase a 2008 Cadillac Escalade for Howard; $41,764 of investment funds to purchase a 2008 Cadillac Escalade for a family member; and $125,477 in investment funds to purchase a 2007 Aston Martin for himself. Wamsley also used more than $200,000 in investment funds to host a Super Bowl fund-raising event in 2011.

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 13th defendant convicted since July 2014 as part of that initiative.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Outcome: Guilty

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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