RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Two men were each sentenced in a Virginia court this week for their role in a five-year-long fraud scheme that promised victims large loans but instead only caused them to lose millions of dollars.
According to court documents and testimony, Carl Anthony McNeill, 59, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Richard Thornhill Crock, 75, of Mableton, Georgia and their co-conspirators, Jayson Ryman Colavalla and Ksyntoilious Miller, ran an advance fee scheme between September 2016 and March 2021.
Colavalla and Miller promised people, small businesses and churches that they could use their relationships with major investment banks to secure lines of credit. But first, the victims had to pay a deposit. This deposit was usually between 10% and 15% of how much money they ultimately wanted to have through the line of credit. Colavalla and Miller promised the money would be returned if they could not obtain the line of credit.
In reality, the co-conspirators did not have any relationships with major banks and did not protect the money given to them. Instead, the money was used to pay Colavalla and Miller, and pay frustrated victims who were demanding their money back. The money also covered expenses at C&D Corporate Services, the company McNeill used to commit the fraud.
Crock additionally contributed to the fraud by promising victims he could protect their lines of credit through policies from a Georgia-based insurance company. While the insurance company was real, it did not have the money to properly compensate the victims, making their policies fraudulent.
McNeill and Crock were each sentenced to 46 months in prison. McNeill was ordered to pay over $5.8 million and Crock was ordered to pay over $2.4 million in restitution to victims.
Colavalla and Miller are scheduled for sentencing this summer. They each face up to 20 years in prison.
