Gene Earl Easterling, Bank Fraud, Mail Fraud and Drug Charges, Alabama 2019

Montgomery Business Man Sentenced for Bank Fraud, Mail Fraud and Drug Charges

Montgomery, Alabama - Gene Earl Easterling, 47, of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced to 63 months of imprisonment for bank fraud, mail fraud, and drug charges, announced U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr., Postal Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez of the Houston Division, and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The five year and three month prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. The judge also ordered Easterling to pay restitution to his financial institution victims.

The mail and bank fraud charges stemmed from a scheme in which Easterling and others submitted a series of fraudulent loan applications and received payment. Specifically, evidence showed that from March 2015 through October 2017, Easterling represented to several Montgomery banks and credit unions that he owned a car dealership in Montgomery, Alabama named “Next-in-Line, Inc.”

He and others working with him would submit applications for auto loans to pay for cars from his lot. However, Easterling never owned a car lot or actually sold cars. Investigators confirmed that Next-In-Line was never issued an auto-dealer’s license, and in fact, according to Next-In-Line’s business license, it was a computer/gaming repair company.

Once the loans were approved and checks were sent to the applicant through the United States mail, Easterling and his co-conspirators would take them to a bank to cash. Easterling would keep a portion of the check and give a portion to his accomplices. Ultimately, no vehicles were ever purchased. Furthermore, once the loan checks were received Easterling and his co-conspirators would make one or two payments on the loan, then stop paying and attempt to discharge their debt through the bankruptcy courts.

In total, sixteen fraudulent loans checks were approved and resulted in a loss of $682,980 to the financial institutions. Easterling and his co-conspirators also submitted other applications which were not approved in the amount of $253,500. His co-conspirators also have pending cases.

As to his drug offense, Easterling was also found to be in possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdal/pr/montgomery-business-man-sentenced-bank-fraud-mail-fraud-and-drug-charges