Former State Senator Faces 31 Bank Fraud Charges

A former Rhode Island state senator and business owner will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Providence next week on 31 counts of bank fraud that victimized a credit union and two banks, according to federal court documents.

James E. Doyle II,  46, of Pawtucket, who resigned from his state senate seat earlier this year, is accused of running a $550,000 check kiting scheme that victimized three financial institutions, the $33.3 million Alliance Blackstone Federal Credit Union in Pawtucket, Bristol County Savings Bank in Taunton, Mass., and Santander Bank in Boston.

Doyle is also charged with one count of filing a false tax return and one count of failing to file a tax return.

The former state senator held at least 20 accounts with AFCU, BCSB and Santander. He owns Doyle Respiratory LLC and Doyle Sleep Solution LLC.

From early 2013 to February 2016, federal prosecutors allege Doyle made deposits into his credit union accounts on checks drawn from his Santander accounts when he knew that the Santander account checks were drawn against insufficient funds. He would then deposit into his Santander account, checks drawn on the ABFCU accounts knowing that the credit union checks were drawn against insufficient funds.

Over three years Doyle created inflated balances in checking accounts at the three financial institutions by writing tens of thousands of checks in order to obtain funds which otherwise would not have been available to him.

Court documents reveal that on Feb. 25, 2016, Doyle deposited thirty-one worthless checks totaling approximately $300,000 into his Santander Bank drawn from his credit union checking account.

Doyle allegedly defrauded the financial institutions of approximately $250,000 and $550,000.

What’s more, federal prosecutors said in court documents that in tax year 2015 Doyle and his spouse failed to report to the IRS $326,862 in income received from the check-kiting scheme and his businesses. He also allegedly failed to file a federal tax return for tax year 2016 in which he received gross income of $255,812.

The tax loss to the IRS for tax years 2013 to 2016 was $305,426. In total, Doyle and his wife failed to report more than $1 million dollars in income, court documents show.

Doyle has signed a plea deal in which he agreed to plead guilty to felony charges and cooperate with authorities in exchange for a yet-to-be-determined lighter prison sentence. According to the plea agreement, Doyle would have faced a maximum sentence of 934 years in prison and a $31 million fine.