Lamar County Man Pleads Guilty to Million Dollar Bank Fraud Conspiracy

Hattiesburg, Miss. - A Lamar County man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud which resulted in the loss of over $1 million.

According to court documents and information presented to the Court, beginning as early as January of 2021, Aaron Brown, 42, conspired with multiple individuals to use his auto sales company and companies owned by his co-conspirators to engage in a systematic check kiting scheme. As part of the conspiracy, he and his co-conspirators would continuously issue and deposit nonsufficient fund checks into their companies' bank accounts. Many of these checks indicated they were for vehicle sales which had not actually occurred.

Prior to the initiation of the scheme, between May and December of 2020, Brown's auto sales company received a total of 163 incoming checks and issued a total of 50 checks. This resulted in over $5 million in deposits and withdrawals. However, at the height of the check kiting scheme, between June and August of 2021, the company received a total of 1,204 checks and issued 1,161 checks to just one of the companies owned by his co-conspirators. The total deposits and withdrawals for that three-month period exceeded $60 million. Ultimately, the financial institutions discovered the scheme and stopped payment. However, one of the financial institutions suffered a loss of over $1 million.

Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He will be sentenced on October 22, 2024, and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee and Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Buckner.