EL DORADO, AR—Conner Eldridge, United
States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced today that
Jason Christopher Knight, 31, of El Dorado, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to seven
counts of bank fraud involving Dr. Shailesh Vora’s medical practice and hotel
and motel entities and BancorpSouth. Knight, a former bookkeeper for Dr. Vora
defrauded the businesses and the bank out of approximately $540,000 over an
eight-year period of time. The Honorable U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey,
accepted the guilty plea in U.S. District Court in El Dorado.
United States Attorney Conner Eldridge
commented, “We will continue to prosecute those who commit fraud and abuse
positions of trust in order to enrich themselves. In this case, a bookkeeper
used his position to defraud his employer and a local bank of a substantial sum
of money. This conduct is egregious, and he has been held accountable.”
According to information in the plea
agreement, Knight was employed as a bookkeeper for Neurology and Sleep Disorder
Center of South Arkansas (NSDC) and Akshar LLC, a hotel venture that operated
hotels and motels in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Both entities conducted
business in El Dorado, Arkansas, and were owned by Dr. Shailesh Vora. As
bookkeeper, Knight was authorized to issue checks drawn from several NSDC and
Akshar LLC bank accounts.
From June 2002 to 2009, Knight used his
position to draw approximately 215 checks and $540,298.24 from several of the
companies and BancorpSouth checking accounts without Dr. Vora’s authorization.
Knight deposited the funds into a BancorpSouth account in the name of an
investment company he controlled called Knight’s Investments.
For each count, Knight faces a maximum
sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment and up to a $1,000,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the El
Dorado FBI and the El Dorado Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney, David
Ferguson, prosecuted the case for the United States.
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