Feds Find Former Fayetteville Businessman Guilty of Bank Fraud

Andrew C. Judkins, a former Fayetteville business owner now living in Bixby, Oklahoma, was found guilty March 9 of two counts of bank fraud.

The verdict was reached following a five-day jury trial before Judge Timothy L. Brooks in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

In the original 12-count indictment handed down in December 2013, Judkins was accused of defrauding Bank of the Ozarks and First Security Bank, and the lending companies Wells Fargo Equipment Finance Inc. and GE Commercial Distribution Finance Corp., in connection with his operation of a heavy equipment sales and rental company on West Wedington Drive in Fayetteville.

Two superseding indictments were later filed, ultimately reducing the charges to five counts. The jury found Judkins not guilty on the remaining three.

Sentencing will be held at a later date. Judkins is facing up to 30 years in federal prison and not more than a $1 million fine.

“Our office remains focused on those who perpetrate fraud, swindle money from others, and engage in financial crimes,” federal prosecutor Conner Eldridge said in a news release.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that in June 2008, Judkins “executed a scheme” to defraud First Security Bank, with whom he had a “floor-plan” financing agreement, according to court documents. Floor plan financing is a revolving line of credit that allows a borrower to obtain financing for retail goods by using a specific piece of equipment as collateral for the loan.

The agreement authorized the bank to inspect and conduct on-site audits of the collateralized equipment, and Judkins was required to repay the bank when the equipment was sold. It is a common financing method used by automobile and heavy equipment dealers to borrow money to purchase inventory. When the inventory is sold, the lender is to be repaid.

Judkins, according to court documents, submitted a fake invoice to the bank representing his company’s (A. Camp Equipment) purchase of two dump trucks in the amount of $500,000.

In actuality, he bought the trucks in 2007 for $30,000 each.

Judkins, according to court documents, used the money he received to make a $207,905.30 down payment on a home on Beaver Lake. He also spent $43,069.96 to buy a Cobalt boat, $47,000 on a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, $17,286.15 for a home entertainment system and $12,099 for a diamond ring, among other personal expenditures.

In August of 2009, Judkins gave a First Security Bank representative conducting an on-site audit at A. Camp Equipment a phony rental agreement that showed one of the dump trucks, in which First Security Bank held a $250,000 security interest, had been rented to Keepes Construction in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. 

Judkins used the fake agreement to conceal the fact that one of the dump trucks was actually sold in July 2008 for $74,000, without Judkins repaying the bank.