Jury convicts Eau Claire man of wire fraud

Date: July 16, 2024

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Madison, WI - An Eau Claire, Wisconsin, man has been convicted of wire fraud and attempting to commit wire fraud. Robert Carter was convicted following a two-day trial in federal court in Madison. The jury reached a verdict today after just over an hour of deliberation. The guilty verdict is announced by Timothy M. O'Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The government presented evidence at trial that from April 22, 2020 to Jan. 25, 2021, Carter made false statements and provided false documents to companies that leased and sold semitrucks in an attempt to fraudulently obtain property, specifically, semi-trucks, to use in his business, Carter Transportation Group. In support of his lease applications, Carter submitted false financial statements for his businesses and submitted a false wire transfer receipt. Carter also falsely claimed that he had a multi-million-dollar trust.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley scheduled sentencing for Oct. 17, 2024. Carter faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on the each of the two fraud counts.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance provided by the Office of the U.S. Trustee for the Western District of Wisconsin. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chad Elgersma and Megan Stelljes.

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.