Coast truck company owner sentenced to jail and $1.65M in restitution for bank fraud
A Diamondhead man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $1.6 million for bank fraud.
Louis Joseph Normand, Jr., 60, of Diamondhead, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. to 57 months in prison. It will be followed by 5 years of supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Michelle Sutphin with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.
Normand pleaded guilty July 7 to a Criminal Information charge of bank fraud.
The FBI said Normand owned National Truck Funding and American Truck Group, and between 2013 and 2017 purchased well over 100 of the 18-wheeler trucks for resale.
He received financing from a local bank and private lenders for 80% of the sales price, the FBI said. To increase the amount of his loan and decrease the amount of his down payment, officials said he created false invoices inflating the sales price. That increased the amount of the loans he received.
He was loaned almost $5 million, the FBI said, which was about 130% of the actual purchase price of the trucks.
Attorney General Lynch Fitch said in a press release Tuesday that he was ordered to pay $891,668 to People’s Bank and $763,283 to EvaBank for a total restitution of $1,654,951.
Fitch said the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office received the first complaint in the case in 2003. When the attorneys investigated, they contacted the FBI to pursue the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Meynardie.
