In the ongoing case of defrauding MCA funder Caymus Funding, Inc., according to the press release from the Department of Justice, two more defendants have been sentenced. Dillon Arceneaux, 33, from Marrero, Louisiana, and Zeb Sartin, 37, from Duson, Louisiana, faced U.S. District Court Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo for their roles in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Arceneaux received a sentence of 3 years of probation, with the first 12 months to be served in home confinement. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $1,604,581 in restitution.
Sartin, similarly, was sentenced to 3 years of probation, with the initial 12 months in home confinement, and must pay $2,100,690 in restitution. Both defendants were also ordered to pay a mandatory special assessment fee of $100 per count.
This case, as previously reported, involved Arceneaux and Sartin conspiring with Ryan Mullen, Duane Dufrene, Grant Menard, and Lance Vallo. They used shell corporations in Louisiana, which had no assets, to defraud the Georgia-based merchant cash company, Caymus Funding, Inc. Mullen and Dufrene established the others as owners of these corporations, created fake vendor accounts, and falsified bank records. Mullen, using an alias, acted as a broker for these corporations.
The group obtained funding from Caymus Funding, Inc. by supplying fake vendor accounts and false bank records. The company wired millions in advances to Arceneaux, Vallo, Menard, and Sartin, who then laundered some of the funds back to Mullen and Dufrene. They eventually closed their non-existent corporations, resulting in losses of approximately $6.4 million to Caymus Funding, Inc., with Arceneaux and Sartin responsible for significant portions of these losses.
This case serves as a reminder of the risks involved with commercial financing and the importance of thorough due diligence in the underwriting process. The elaborate scheme orchestrated by these individuals highlights the lengths to which fraudsters will go to deceive and defraud financial institutions.