United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

USED CAR DEALER IN AMARILLO PLEADS GUILTY TO BANK FRAUD

Fraud Cost Amarillo National Bank More Than $320,000 LUBBOCK, TEXAS - Amarillo, Texas, resident, Christopher Ray Campbell, pled guilty today in federal court, in Lubbock, to one count of bank fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Campbell, 33, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings who ordered a pre-sentence investigation with sentencing to be scheduled after that investigation is completed. Campbell faces a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and restitution. He has been on bond since his surrender to federal authorities in November on charges outlined in a federal indictment returned by a grand jury in Amarillo.

Campbell operated Silver Star Motor Company, a used car business located at 4033 Canyon Drive in Amarillo. In documents filed in Court, Campbell admitted that from April 2005 through February 2006, he ran a scheme to defraud financial institutions. When he was unable to secure financing for all of the vehicles he wished to purchase for his business, he persuaded other car dealers he knew to help him obtain financing for the vehicles. These other car dealers had bank accounts at Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas; State National Bank of Groom, Amarillo Branch, Amarillo, Texas; Herring National Bank, Amarillo, Texas; First National Bank, Borger, Texas; and Hereford State Bank, Hereford, Texas. The car dealers charged Campbell a fee for allowing him to use their credit. When Silver Star got into financial difficulty, Campbell began “kiting” vehicle drafts and checks, knowing that there was a time interval between the time that vehicle drafts were sent from the financial institution to which they were presented and the time that they were delivered to the financial institution upon which they were drawn.

Campbell also deposited vehicle drafts using vehicle titles that either had not been purchased or sold or titles that were overinflated and thereby kited worthless drafts through the banks. He also deposited worthless and insufficient checks into other bank accounts and on or before the date such worthless and insufficient fund checks reached the originating banks for payment or were discovered to be fraudulent, other worthless, insufficient and fraudulent drafts and checks were deposited into those account to keep the “kite” in operation. When the “kite” came down, vehicles were repossessed. Following the offset, the loss to Amarillo National Bank is approximately $320,219.80.

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Drake of the Amarillo, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office and Jeffrey Haag of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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