When 23-year-old J. Nicholas Bryant realized he couldn’t afford the lavish lifestyle he wanted, complete with luxury limousine rides, fully-equipped charter flights and a private outing on a 90-foot yacht, he turned to fraud. admitted to court today, according to US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Chad E. Meacham.
Mr. Bryant, now 26, pleaded guilty to wire fraud before Federal Judge D. Gordon Bryant, Jr. on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
“Like many of his peers, Nicholas Bryant apparently coveted the lives of the rich and famous. Unlike his peers, he wasn’t about to let lack of funds get in the way of his fantasy. Without the interference of our law enforcement partners, this defendant would be well on his way to becoming Anna Delvey or Frank Abagnale of Lubbock,” said US Attorney Chad E. Meacham.
According to plea documents, Mr. Bryant admitted that from 2020 to 2021, he defrauded at least 50 unsuspecting victims by reserving luxury goods and services and then manipulating online payment platforms such as QuickBooks and Veem to make it appear that consumers Payments will be made soon. On at least one occasion, he convinced a victim company that his “secretary,” a woman who did not exist, would make payments on his behalf. Knowing that the software would generate payment confirmations immediately, but take several days to notify victims of canceled payments, Mr. Bryant satisfied vendors and business owners that payments would be made when due.
In this way, he earned more than a dozen private jet flights, a half-day sail on a 90-foot yacht, numerous luxury hotel rooms, extravagant steak-and-champagne dinners, and five luxury vehicles worth more than of $500,000. He also racked up a bill for substantial materials and labor on a $980,000 home and pool.
To lend an air of legitimacy to his schemes, Mr. Bryant convinced victims that his parents were wealthy oil and gas investors and that he himself worked for various shell companies. He assumed the identities of fictitious people, contacted the victims under false names, and even created fake websites to promote his scheme. On at least one occasion, he convinced the owner of an oil and gas company, who had worked with and trusted him, that he advanced approximately $150,000 to drill a dummy oil well.
Mr. Bryant now faces up to 20 years in federal prison. His sentence has not yet been set.
US Secret Service Lubbock Residents Bureau, Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division, Lubbock Police Department, Brazos County Sheriff’s Office, Brownwood Police Department , Coleman County Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana, and the Cody Police Department in Wyoming conducted the investigation. Assistant US Attorney Ann Howey is prosecuting the case.
Source: news.google.com