A man formerly of Richmond County, Ga., was sentenced to federal prison for bank and bankruptcy fraud related to his purchase of an Augusta, Ga., apartment complex.
Jerome Walter Kiggundu, 38, now a resident of Commerce City, Colo., was sentenced to 48 months in prison after his conviction in a jury trial in December 2021 on charges of bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and false statements under oath, said David Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randal Hall also fined Kiggundu $2,500 and ordered him to serve three years of supervised release after completion of his prison term.
As described in court documents and testimony, Kiggundu was the registered agent and managing member of Nakaddu LLC, a/k/a Kiggun Properties LLC, and borrowed $2,831,250 from a mortgage lender in March 2019 by submitting fraudulent bank statements to falsely claim his company had an average monthly operating balance of approximately $100,000. During this period, his account had an average balance of approximately $500.
Kiggundu also submitted a false personal financial statement overstating his net worth and assets to qualify for the loan, which he used to refinance an 80-unit apartment complex the company owned at 405 Hale St., in Augusta.
When the scheme started to unravel, Kiggundu filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 to avoid foreclosure by the lender. Kiggundu then submitted another set of fake bank statements in his bankruptcy proceedings to conceal his bank fraud and lied under oath about his finances when questioned by employees of the United States Trustee Program who suspected this fraud.
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the United States Trustees Program and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Schwedler and Jennifer Stanley.