The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it successfully prosecuted two brothers from Dallas that were connected to a “fraud scheme.”
A federal jury found Thomas Hughes Page, 46, and Jon Phillip Page Jr., 54, guilty on Monday of charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Texas.
“These two brothers disguised and lied to financial institutions in order to steal large amounts of money for their personal use, depriving others of the legitimate business use of the money,” stated U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston, per the release.
“Keeping all the balls … in the air only lasts until the FBI comes knocking, then the balls come crashing down. The FBI and prosecutors in this case did an outstanding job investigating and prosecuting the case,” he stated.
According to court documents, the Page brothers used their investment company, Page Capital Group LLC, to fraudulently obtain business loans that they then pilfered for their personal use.
Their scheme went on for roughly seven years, during which time they secured $3.6 million in loans from PlainsCapital Bank, which ended up costing the bank about $3.25 million in losses.
The Page brothers still face sentencing and could receive as much as 30 years in federal prison.
“Financial Institution Fraud not only hurts the lender, but also innocent borrowers who are seeking genuine loans for their businesses. The FBI is committed to pursuing anyone that attempts to defraud financial institutions, investors, or the public,” said James J. Dwyer, the FBI Dallas office’s acting special agent in charge, according to the release.
While federal authorities often handle multimillion-dollar schemes involving financial institutions, the Dallas Police Department also has to deal with plenty of such “white-collar” criminal activity, especially considering City leaders’ seeming unwillingness to get a handle on Dallas’ serious crime problem.
So-called “white-collar” crime in the city has increased roughly 9% between 2020 and 2022, wrapping up last year with 2,995 reported incidents, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
For more Dallas News, discover how Monty Bennett speaks on Dallas crime in a speech to business and civic leaders.
