Baltimore Man Gets 8 Years for Auto Scam

BALTIMORE, MD – Sean Stanley Jackson, 44, of Baltimore, Maryland, is headed to federal prison for eight years after being sentenced on May 1, 2017, by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake. Jackson was the mastermind behind a six-year scheme to fleece auto dealers across Maryland and lenders nationwide, utilizing shell companies and mountains of fabricated documentation.

Jackson’s operation wasn’t a smash-and-grab; it was a slow bleed. From January 2010 to February 2016, he and co-conspirators Erika P. Ryles and Walter J. Perry, III, crafted a sophisticated web of lies to secure auto loans for vehicles they had no means of legitimately financing. The key to their deceit? A phantom entity known as The Black Group LLC, falsely portrayed as a thriving business with “millions of dollars in annual revenues,” according to court documents.

The scheme was brazen. Fake paystubs, bogus bank statements, fabricated utility bills, and cooked corporate tax returns – the conspirators produced a full suite of fraudulent paperwork to convince lenders they were dealing with a legitimate borrower. In one instance, in December 2013, Jackson directly instructed Ryles to create a fake bank statement, which was then used to secure loans for two 2014 Ford F450 trucks, a Chevrolet Express Van, and a 2009 Audi A8. The total fraudulently obtained for these vehicles exceeded $246,349, all of which went into default, leaving lenders holding the bag. They repeated this tactic with a 2006 5900i International Dump Truck.

But Jackson didn’t stop at just securing the loans. He actively laundered the proceeds of the fraud. In May 2012, he secured a $63,067.38 loan for a 2012 Chevrolet Avalanche, then promptly stopped making payments. When the lender attempted repossession, Jackson had vanished from the address provided on the application. He then presented a fraudulent Mississippi title, claiming ownership through The Black Group, to obtain a clean Maryland title. This allowed him to sell the Avalanche to a Maryland car dealership for $34,000, effectively converting the fraudulently obtained vehicle into clean cash.

The sentencing was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning, alongside officials from the IRS-Criminal Investigation, Baltimore County Police Department, and Baltimore Police Department. Judge Blake didn’t just hand down the prison sentence; she also ordered Jackson to pay $692,587.63 in forfeiture and restitution, a fraction of the damage caused by his years of deception. Following his eight-year prison term, Jackson will face three years of supervised release.

This case serves as a stark reminder that even complex financial schemes will eventually unravel. Jackson’s attempt to build a criminal empire on a foundation of lies ultimately crumbled, leaving him facing the consequences of his actions. The investigation highlights the importance of collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies in combating white-collar crime and protecting financial institutions from fraud.

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