James Henley told federal agents that he was inspired in part to commit mass fraud after watching a crime TV show. It wasn’t his fault he registered five fake businesses, with the sole purpose of committing fraud. By claiming to be Chief Executive Officer, he used the fake businesses to mask his identity, make his schemes appear more credible, and launder the stolen money resulting in a total loss of $2,927,758 to individual homeowners, an Indiana attorney, a bank, and 10 state governments. But using Crime TV as a scapegoat for his fraud didn’t work and the court ruled Henley was a fraudster no matter what he watched.
Between May 2020 and March 2021, Henley used the stolen personally identifiable information of seventy-six individuals and submitted one hundred and twenty unemployment insurance applications to ten states during the COVID-19 pandemic. The states paid a total of $1,119,426 in unemployment benefits in connection with Henley’s fraudulent applications. Henley first used his fraudulently gained funds to buy a Chevrolet Camaro. It was interesting that he didn’t buy a bigger TV.
As pandemic relief unemployment benefits came to an end in 2021, Henley started schemes in house title fraud, mortgage fraud and auto loan fraud. Henley stole homes by filing fraudulent deeds with the counties. He claimed that the homeowners had sold their homes to his fake businesses, although he had never even spoken with the homeowners. Unbeknownst to the victims, Henley filed these fraudulent deeds and then sold the homes for significantly less than their market value, pocketing more than $260,000 in profits.
On February 14, 2025, Henley was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $1,887,426 in restitution.
Excellent job by the Department of Indiana’s Homeowner Protection Unit in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Fraudster sentenced to 10 years, ordered to pay nearly $2M” published by The Hamilton County Reporter Newspaper on February 14, 2025.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to take down a southside Indianapolis-based serial fraudster, James Henley, and secured an order for him to pay back nearly $2 million in restitution.
Henley has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, two counts of money laundering, and eight counts of wire fraud. He has also been ordered to pay $1,887,426.63 in restitution.
