‘Desperate need for money.’ Man defrauded KY bank in a spiral of drug and alcohol abuse.
An Ohio man who pleaded guilty to defrauding a Kentucky bank to get a $1 million loan was sentenced earlier this month to three years and 10 months in federal prison.
The sentence for Anthony McQuaid also includes $4.9 million in restitution.
McQuaid admitted defrauding 18 businesses or people in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, including Town Square Bank in Ashland.
McQuaid, 47, sought loans from businesses and individuals, telling them he needed financing for construction jobs or to buy equipment.
However, he lied about his assets and liabilities on loan documents, and the jobs didn’t exist, according to court documents.
In one case, for example, McQuaid told a business he had full title to nine pieces of heavy equipment he pledged as collateral for a $655,200 loan in 2017, but the bill of sale he provided as evidence of his ownership was a forgery, according to a court document.
In another instance, McQuaid put up a 2013 Sunstar houseboat as collateral for an increase in his line of credit at the Ashland bank, without disclosing it was already tied up to stand good for another loan.
McQuaid later sold the houseboat, worth at least $575,000, to a person from Wisconsin under false pretenses, according to the court record.
McQuaid, of Proctorville, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one charge of bank fraud from his conduct in Kentucky and one charge of wire fraud related to crimes in Ohio.
McQuaid overcame a traumatic childhood to carve out a successful career, working his way up from washing cars at a dealership to a senior management position, his attorney said in a sentencing memorandum.
However, he ultimately spiraled down because of depression and drug and alcohol abuse, the memo said.
As his substance abuse worsened and his career suffered as a result, McQuaid took out his first fraudulent loan.
“The toxic combination of alcohol, Xanax, opioids, antidepressants, and unchecked mental illness turned Tony into a shell of his former self,” his attorney wrote. “What started with one fraudulent loan quickly mutated into a substance-abuse fueled enterprise of its own dimension that Tony could not control. His substance abuse caused his desperate need for money and the guilt from defrauding his victims for money only fueled his substance abuse.”
In July 2018, McQuaid’s wife found him slumped over the kitchen counter, drunk, high and hysterical, with a gun to his head.
She wrested the gun from him and called 911, leading to an eight-day stay in a psychiatric ward.
McQuaid ultimately got sober and has made progress on repaying his victims, his attorney said, forfeiting his houseboat, listing his hunting cabin for sale so the proceeds can go to restitution, and planning to sell his car before he reports to prison in January.
