CINCINNATI – Grady Calhoun, 35, of Hamilton, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for three counts of bank fraud related to making representations as part of his application to obtain credit cards.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Jason Hayden, Acting Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, announced the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black.
According to the Statement of Facts in this case, on three separate occasions, Calhoun made false claims about his occupation and income. During one application process with Chase Bank, he claimed he was a partner and president of a law firm called Serdekor LLC. Serdekor LLC is an Ohio limited liability company that was created and registered by Calhoun; however, Serdekor LLC is not a law firm and the defendant is not a licensed attorney. Rather, Calhoun was employed as a paralegal at a law firm in the Southern District of Ohio.
Calhoun manipulated the payment process to Chase Bank to keep the credit card accounts open as long as possible, and owes nearly $408,000 as a result of this scheme.
He also fraudulently obtained credit card accounts at Barclay’s Bank and applied for other lines of credit with another individual’s social security number. Calhoun owes Barclay’s more than $28,000.
Calhoun pleaded guilty in June, and as part of the plea agreement, Calhoun has agreed to pay the loss amounts to both banks in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the Secret Service and Assistant United States Attorney Timothy S. Mangan, who is representing the United States in this case.
--DOJ Southern District of Ohio