Former Car Dealer from Myrtle Beach Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges in Plea Deal

On Wednesday, November 27th, Howie Lavin pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bank fraud, after being arrested for orchestrating a long-running check-kiting scheme against local financial institutions.

Lavin is currently free on an unsecured $200,000 bond. He will formalize his plea agreement on Tuesday, December 3rd in a federal court in Florence, SC.

The bank fraud charge is very serious – once convicted, Lavin could face a maximum of 30 years in prison, and a $1 million fine. However, Lavin sought a plea agreement; in exchange for pleading guilty, his sentence would be reduced to between 5 and 8 years, but he would pay a restitution of more than $7 million.

The pre-sentence report could change some of these details. Financial institutions CresCom and Carolian Trust, defrauded by Lavin, reported that they lost $8.6 million.

Lavin’s lawyer says that the former car dealer wanted to move quickly in the trial, and always wanted to plead guilty to the federal charge.

“Once his sentencing is completed, that right to remain silent will be extinguished,” he said. “You want to make sure that everything is over [with the criminal case].”

Lavin’s indictment focused on one month of fraudulent activity – April 2012 – and showed that the defendant made dozens of deposits and withdrawals across three checking accounts every day. Prosecutors say that the scheme lasted as long as 5 years. Lavin totaled 1,853 transactions a month.

Lavin’s deposits at both CresCom and Carolina Trust were immediately credited to his accounts, artificially inflating his account balances. He would then write more checks against those balances, even though the previous deposits had not cleared. In April 2012 alone, Lavin deposited and withdrew $4.5 million per day at each bank. More than $94 million in fraudulent checks flowed in and out of his accounts that month.

The alleged scheme finally fell through the following month, May 2012, when Lavin deposited six checks from Carolina Trust to CresCom, totaling $4.4 million. However, there was not enough money in the credit union to cover those checks, and they bounced, creating $4.2 million in overdraft fees. When the checks were returned to CresCom the next day, that created another overdraft of $4 million.

Because of the huge amount of money lost, Lavin’s business, Lavin Cars, was foreclosed and CresCom began hauling cars out of the lot to cover the millions of dollars in fraudulent checks. Once the check-kiting scheme was uncovered, Lavin’s business Barefoot Resort Bar & Grill was also shut down as part of the investigation.

Lavin was officially charged with bank fraud in September. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled yet.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with Bank Fraud Charges

If you face wire fraud, bank fraud, or other federal charges, the Columbia, SC attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so do not hesitate to contact us. 803.252.4800