Man pleads to perpetrating a $4 Million Fraud

United States Attorney Bill Nettles announces that 46-year-old Darryl Clements of Detroit, Michigan, pled guilty in federal court in Anderson, to wire fraud.  Senior United States District Judge Ross Anderson, Jr. accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report. Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that this case concerned efforts to obtain a $100 million bridge loan for a Canadian wind farm project.  Gibbs International, a company with headquarters in Spartanburg agreed to post $4 million in an escrow account at Bank of America to assist with securing the bridge loan for the project.  The bridge loan did not close and Gibbs International learned that Clements stole the $4 million placed in the escrow account.  When Gibbs International filed an insurance claim, it learned that Clements had created a fake policy and that there was no insurance.  The wire fraud occurred because Clements sent the fraudulent documents to Gibbs International via email from Michigan.  Nettles stated the maximum penalty Clements can receive is a fine of $250,000 and/or imprisonment for 20 years, plus a special assessment of $100.