West Dallas man arrested for alleged multimillion-dollar Treasury check fraud scheme
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, announced that a West Dallas man was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging that he used stolen identities and fake IDs to deposit over $15 million in U.S. Treasury checks intended for various businesses throughout the U.S.
Kendrick Lamont Fugett, 34, was taken into custody pursuant to a complaint filed on Aug. 14 that charges him with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Fugett is expected to make his initial appearance tomorrow morning in federal court in Dallas.
“Stealing identities to siphon millions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury is not just fraud, it’s an attack on the integrity of our financial system,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “As alleged, Mr. Fugett carried out a brazen scheme to impersonate corporate officers, fabricate documents and manipulate banks in order to pocket taxpayer funds. His arrest makes clear that our office, together with IRS Criminal Investigation, will aggressively pursue anyone who targets our financial institutions and the businesses they serve.”
“This arrest underscores IRS-CI’s unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of the U.S. financial system,” said IRS‑CI’s Texas Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus Jr. “The defendant’s alleged scheme was deliberate, sophisticated, and designed to exploit public trust. The women and men of IRS-CI worked tirelessly to uncover Mr. Fugett’s alleged patterns of deception and misrepresentation, and we will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to steal from taxpayers.”
According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, Fugett, described as a “recidivist identity thief,” allegedly assumed the identity of the chief financial officer of an Austin-based software company to open a business account at an Origin Bank branch in Dallas. Using a fraudulent Texas driver’s license and forged corporate documentation, he passed himself off as the company’s Chief Financial Officer and allegedly deposited a Treasury refund check valued at more than $13.8 million.
The affidavit further alleges that Fugett’s scheme extended to multiple financial institutions in the Dallas area. In one instance, he allegedly deposited a Treasury refund check exceeding $447,000 at a Bank of America branch in Mesquite, Texas. For that transaction, Fugett assumed the identity of the billionaire chairman of the holding company associated with the intended recipient business and presented a fraudulent Illinois driver’s license bearing his own image.
Fugett also has outstanding warrants from the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Denton County Sheriff’s Office, and Arlington Police Department for offenses including fraudulent use or possession of identifying information and providing false statements to obtain property or credit. The affidavit notes that Nashville Airport Police arrested Fugett in July 2024 after he allegedly attempted to open bank accounts using fraudulent identities.
If convicted of the charges alleged in the complaint, Fugett faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for the bank fraud charge and a mandatory two-year prison sentence for aggravated identity theft.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Schwab and Ignacio Perez de la Cruz from the Fraud section are prosecuting the case.
A complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.