Guilt admitted in $2.1 million fraud

Ex-House candidate’s swindle involved 2 contruction jobs

FORT SMITH -- A man who once ran for the Arkansas Legislature has pleaded guilty in federal court to bank and wire fraud in two schemes that netted him $2.1 million, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Brandon Woodrome of Fort Smith entered the pleas Thursday in U.S. District Court to two schemes in which he received payment for submitting false invoices on two construction projects.

Sebastian County election records show Woodrome ran for the Republican nomination for House District 64 in May 2008. He was defeated by Stephanie Malone, 338-319.

Woodrome remained free on a $5,000 signature bond pending sentencing, which will follow the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the court's probation office.

A news release from the U.S. attorney's office said Woodrome owned a construction company, Behr LLC. In 2014, he obtained a loan from the First Western Bank branch in Fort Smith to purchase property at South 31st Street and Phoenix Avenue to build a medical clinic. Construction began in November 2014.

Court records showed Woodrome was required to submit subcontractor invoices to the bank for payment for work completed. In November and December 2014, according to records, he submitted false invoices for work that was never completed and for which he was paid more than $300,000.

In January 2015, according to court records, Woodrome established a line of credit with Rioux Capital LLC. of Austin, Texas, and began building a shopping center at 5400 Phoenix Ave. for a company that owned the land.

Woodrome submitted invoices to the landowner for payment for work performed. He also sold bogus invoices to Rioux Capital for discounted payments for work for which he had already been paid.

The news release said Woodrome defrauded Rioux Capital of about $1.8 million.

NW News on 09/25/2016

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