Tennessee Man Sentenced for Defrauding Charities of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
A Tennessee man has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for running a scam that defrauded more than 100 organizations including churches, charities, nonprofit environmental entities, and the Peace Corps out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Jaime Walsh, 53, will serve 78 months in federal prison for one count of bank fraud in connection with the scheme and was also ordered to pay restitution to victims in the amount of $203,840.70.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Tennessee said that between June 2013 and March 2019, Walsh defrauded the groups by making a large donation, then saying he had made an error — that he had mistakenly donated $4,500 when he only intended to give $45, for example — and asking for a refund for the difference in the two amounts.
He would immediately withdraw the refunded money from his account, and the original donation would be rejected for insufficient funds.
Groups that were scammed by Walsh included LifeNews.com, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Catholic church, and the Convention of States movement, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Walsh attempted to defraud victims of more than $863,000 and was successful in getting more than $241,000, the attorney general’s office said. He pled guilty to bank fraud on March 2.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Tennessee Highway Patrol, U.S. Secret Service, and the Peace Corps Office of the Inspector General.
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