PROVIDENCE – Former state senator and businessman James E. Doyle III of Pawtucket has been charged with 31 counts of bank fraud and one count each of filing a false tax return and failing to file a tax return, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch for the District of Rhode Island alleged in a statement that as owner of Doyle Respiratory LLC and Doyle Sleep Solutions LLC, the former legislator executed a “check-kiting” scheme that defrauded three banks. A kiting scheme consists of drawing checks on an account in one bank and depositing them in an account in a second bank when neither account has sufficient funds to cover the amounts drawn. A kiter will then cover the checks by depositing checks drawn on the account in the second bank, resulting in an artificial balance inflation.
Doyle has been accused of defrauding banks of between $250,000 and $550,000.
The tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service from 2013 and 2016 was estimated to be $305,426 on $1 million in income that Doyle and his wife are alleged to have not reported.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney Dulce Donovan.
Doyle resigned as an R.I. state senator in January 2018.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. He can be reached at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
