NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A Mississippi man pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud a Georgia cash advance company.
According to U.S. Attorney Duane Evans, 42-year-old Ryan Mullen pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Court documents state Mullen conspired with five other people “to use several shell Louisiana corporations, devoid of assets, to defraud a Georgia based merchant cash company.”
According to the records, Mullen and another person assisted three others in establishing themselves as owners of shell corporations.
Mullen then reportedly made fake accounts for the corporations with another person before he and an unnamed person made fake bank records for the companies.
Court records state Mullen then used a fake identity and represented himself as a broker for the shell companies.
Evans said another broker helped Mullen supply “the victim merchant cash advance company with the fake vendor accounts and false bank records in order to obtain funding.”
He said the cash advance company began electronically wiring millions of dollars in advances to four others, who then reportedly laundered part of the funds through paying Mullen and another person.
Court documents state that the four others closed the fake businesses prior to repaying the cash advance company, which reportedly caused a loss of $6.4 million.
Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.
