This week, it was announced that the owner of two Rhode Island durable medical equipment companies had been charged with allegedly executing a “check-kiting” scheme and with tax evasion. 46-year-old James E. Doyle II of Pawtucket, Rhode Island is a businessman and former state senator. He was charged by way of information with 31 counts of bank fraud and one count each of failing to file a tax return and filing a false tax return. The defendant resigned as Rhode Island State Senator in January of 2018.
Court documents allege that Doyle carried out a check-kitting scheme that defrauded three banks. Doyle was the owner of Doyle Respiratory LLC and Doyle Sleep Solutions LLC. The scheme allegedly started as early as 2013 and lasted until February 2016. Doyle is accused of creating inflated balances in checking accounts at three banks by writing tens of thousands of checks in hopes of obtaining funds which would not have otherwise been available to him over a three-year period.
It is alleged that the defendant deposited 31 worthless checks totaling roughly $300,000 into one bank drawn from a checking account at a different bank on a single day in February 2016. The accounts had insufficient funds to cover the checks. Doyle is accused of defrauding the banks somewhere between $250,000 and $550,000. Further details have been made available here.