Sit back and listen to a story about J. Nicholas Bryant, a one man tornado of fraud! This is eCrimeBytes.com S 2 Ep 3-2: The Boasting Fraudster J. Nicholas Bryant – Act 2: Bryant Pleads Guilty. Go back to Act 1 for the background:
The Boasting Fraudster J. Nicholas Bryant – Act 1: Meet Mr. Bryant
Sources:
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65652216/united-states-v-bryant/
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67146544/united-states-v-bryant/
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/26-year-old-fraudster-sentenced-14-years-prison-following-boasts-about-criminal
- https://www.databreaches.net/26-year-old-fraudster-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-following-boasts-about-criminal-conduct/
- https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/texas-grifter-j-nicholas-bryant-041102482.html (Photos)
Transcript:
00:00:10:00 – 00:00:49:29
Keith
Hey, welcome back to eCrimeBytes season two, episode three. And this is the boasting fraudster J. Nicholas Bryant. So we’re on Act two now. So if you haven’t seen Act One and you want the background and I promise you, you do want the background, I recommend backing up and seeing Act one if you haven’t seen it already, because in this act we’re jumping straight into Bryant pleading guilty because he was caught for an extreme, extreme amount of fraud where he was defrauding aviation companies, limousine companies.
00:00:49:29 – 00:01:12:08
Keith
He defrauded a limousine driver personally to pay for some of his hotel rooms. He has cars fraudulently. He got his home built fraudulently. He did everything fraudulently. And the law caught up with him. He pled guilty and now we’re going to talk about that. So
00:01:12:08 – 00:01:26:17
Keith
one of the things that we talked about and I say this for our listeners that are from outside the U.S., is usually if you plead guilty, you don’t know what you’re pleading to sentence wise.
00:01:26:19 – 00:01:45:13
Keith
And then you go to a sentencing hearing where you basically make your case to say, hey, please, please, please don’t give me a really harsh punishment. And then the government gets up there and goes, he needs a really harsh punishment because of all these reasons. And there’s that civil argument that happens. And then the judge usually goes away, comes back and gives their sentence.
00:01:45:15 – 00:02:18:01
Keith
So we’re in that phase right now where there’s arguments being made for and against Bryant, either spending a long time or not any time in prison. During this process, we find out that there’s a whole hell of a lot more fraud that we than we even know about. He he basically went up there and said, you know, the information that you have in this document, it doesn’t even cover what it is that I’ve done my past.
00:02:18:03 – 00:02:20:19
Keith
It’s not a complete accounting.
00:02:20:19 – 00:02:34:22
Keith
but then they jump in to the topic at hand, which is all the fraud that Seth and I have talked to you about at this point. This is the information that you eventually get at one of these plea deals.
00:02:34:25 – 00:02:51:00
Keith
Now, what I want to do is tell you that there are a lot of victims. I’m looking at two slides worth, and I see slides as in like a PowerPoint type of thing, where
00:02:51:00 – 00:03:00:09
Keith
each line of a chart on these on each slide is a victim. The restitution for each victim ranges anywhere from
00:03:00:09 – 00:03:02:10
Keith
Oh if I just scan with my old eyes.
00:03:02:10 – 00:03:34:18
Keith
I see anywhere from about a quarter million dollars or actually over a quarter million dollars to the home company to about $2,000. Nope, $200. So anywhere from about $200 up to about a quarter million dollars. And I’m guessing maybe 50 victims. And I’m telling you these summaries because we’re not going to go through all of them. I’m we’re going to go through a couple that are going to be pretty interesting that when I saw them in the court document, I was like, I call it rich people, shit.
00:03:34:19 – 00:03:41:18
Keith
Like, I didn’t even know these things existed until I saw it in a court document. And you will have to hold on to see what I’m talking about.
00:03:41:18 – 00:03:56:21
Keith
So Seth as the lawyer walked me through, so when I did this research, I cut this out mainly for you to talk about, which is when he pleads guilty. I wanted the audience to be able to understand what he’s pleading guilty to.
00:03:56:21 – 00:04:04:18
Keith
And the government says these are it. I don’t even know if I’ll have the right term Seth so correct me if I’m wrong, but basically the facets.
00:04:04:20 – 00:04:24:16
Seth
Or yeah, I mean the term is element case, right? It’s elements. So in order to be charged with a crime, the government has to prove that you’re hitting every element of the crime. And this is usually very, very well documented, either directly in the statute or, you know, supplemented by years of case law. Right. So here the government charged.
00:04:24:18 – 00:04:52:20
Seth
Mr. Nicholas. Mr. Bryant. Right. Excuse me. Nicholas Bryant with wire fraud, which is a fairly broad, wide ranging set of basically anytime you defrauded another party and money changed hands, it really kind of falls under the wire fraud clause. And there’s several elements to it and they go through the elements and these are in the court document. So and obviously Bryant had to admit that he met every element, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to plead guilty.
00:04:52:22 – 00:05:12:12
Seth
So first element is that the defendant knowingly devised or intended to devise any scheme to defraud. Right? So it can’t be like he had no idea what he was doing or he did it in good faith. It has to be that he knowingly devise or intended to buy. So here the fact that he had no money or never had any intention of paying it is there.
00:05:12:12 – 00:05:30:00
Seth
And it’s part of the it’s harder to prove than you might think. Right? This is what you’re seeing currently with the Trump indictment on January six. Whereas if he truly and fully believe that, you know, he was defrauded in the election and, you know, you can’t get him on some of these counts, and so obviously actions go into it.
00:05:30:00 – 00:05:56:23
Seth
But that’s the first element that you had to knowingly intend to do this. And the second element is that a scheme to defraud employed false material representations, right? Did you bullshit somebody? So by saying, yeah, the checks in the mail are like, oh it was just paid. Or the fact that he used QuickBooks certainly meets that element. The third element is that defendant transmitted or caused to be transmitted by way of wire radio.
00:05:56:23 – 00:06:34:04
Seth
Television wire is an old fashioned term generally. Now it’s on by the Internet in interstate or foreign commerce, a writing, a sign, a signal, a picture or sound for the purpose of executing. So here, by using QuickBooks and by sending text messages and emails and phone calls and whatever other means that in terms of at least for the the facts that we saw on the defrauding of the of the charter company clearly met the elements of this aside, the this specific element and I’m sure of the prior slide where we saw all the different other entities that he decided they meant and had all him on all these elements, but I’m sure they had him
00:06:34:04 – 00:06:59:11
Seth
on most of these elements. The fourth element is that the defendant acted with a specific intent to defraud. That’s actually really similar to the first element, but it’s a little different because one is, you know, did he have a plan upfront versus in the fourth element? Did he actually go forth with the actual fraud knowing that it was going to result in, you know, another being defrauded?
00:06:59:13 – 00:07:26:25
Seth
So on November 1st of 22, so about a year after the charter plane incident, he pled guilty. He pled guilty to, a single count of wire fraud, which got him off real easy because there were clearly dozens of counts. The sentence here would be 20 years. The max fine is $250,000. And the max supervised release of that money could get would be three years.
00:07:26:28 – 00:07:35:29
Seth
He had to pay restitution and he has to pay cost of incarceration, which is kind of weird. I’ve never seen that before and there has to be obviously forfeiture of the property.
00:07:36:01 – 00:07:40:16
Keith
So yeah, I thought that cost of incarceration, I saw that I was like, Wow, that was.
00:07:40:16 – 00:07:49:20
Seth
Yeah, I’ve not seen that before. That that’s maybe that’s specific to. Yeah, that’s a unique I’ve not seen that before.
00:07:49:22 – 00:08:17:01
Keith
All right. So we get we talked about this a few times in our season one which is in the supervised release sometimes that mandates alcohol or drug treatment or mental health treatment and I made a comment in an earlier episode. I said, Hey, maybe there’s some information earlier on in the case that led to this being mandated in the release, and I found it in this case.
00:08:17:01 – 00:08:38:04
Keith
I actually saw it in the transcript. I was like, Oh, hey, I’m going to talk about it here because we’ve been talking about this all along in season one, which is there was the guilty plea hearing and Judge says, Sir, have you ever been hospitalized or treated for narcotics addiction or alcoholism? And Brian said, Yes, sir. And the judge said, how long ago for what condition?
00:08:38:06 – 00:08:43:25
Keith
He said, one year alcohol. So that could lead to those
00:08:43:25 – 00:08:49:26
Keith
the conditions of supervised release that we talked to you so much about. And
00:08:49:26 – 00:08:58:20
Keith
this would be the the alcohol treatment part. And then you say, well, what about the mental health? Well, there was a question and answer session about that, too.
00:08:58:22 – 00:09:10:07
Keith
He says, Do you have you ever been diagnosed with any emotional or mental disability or problem? Yes, sir. He says again, what was the diagnosis and how long ago? Depression, anxiety. Ten years ago.
00:09:10:07 – 00:09:12:25
Keith
Are you taking any prescribed medications for those conditions?
00:09:12:25 – 00:09:25:04
Keith
Yes, sir. And are you taking them as prescribed? Yes, sir. So, again, that could lead to those conditions, where it says you know, the person has to attend the mental health treatment. So.
00:09:25:04 – 00:09:47:16
Seth
Okay. So on November 9th, we actually have a guilty plea hearing. So the court documents indicate and this is interesting, the court told Mr. Bryant, as I indicated to you earlier, you have the right to enter a plea of not guilty in this case and to go to trial. And if you were convicted, you could still appeal the conviction and whatever sentence the court imposed.
00:09:47:18 – 00:10:12:25
Seth
And paragraph 12, your plea agreement contains a waiver of that. Right. So do you understand in paragraph 12 that you’re agreeing to give up your right to appeal or otherwise challenge or conviction and or a sentence, except in the limited circumstances described in paragraph 12 and says yes. And the court asked, did you voluntarily agree to give up your right to appeal or otherwise challenge your conviction with that single exception in paragraph 12 said, Yes, sir
00:10:12:25 – 00:10:13:25
Seth
So.
00:10:13:28 – 00:10:16:02
Keith
Now paragraph 12 for.
00:10:16:02 – 00:10:35:18
Seth
You. Yeah. So what is paragraph 12? What is the what is waiver of right to appeal otherwise challenge sentence. So the defendant waives to defend his own rights, which is conferred in the U.S. code to appeal the conviction sentence. Fine. An order of restitution or forfeiture in an amount should be determined by the District Court. The defendant further waives defendant’s rights to contest the conviction sentence,
00:10:35:18 – 00:11:13:14
Seth
fine and order. So when he pleads he pleads. Now, however, there is a clause here that states the defendant does reserve the right to a bring a direct appeal of a sentence exceeding the statutory punishment. So if they give him 25 years. Right. And we saw previously that the plea was for 20 years, he can appeal that. Or if there is some kind of arithmetic error at sentencing, or he can challenge the voluntariness of the defendant’s plea of guilty of this waiver, which would really be, I guess, part of the Fifth Amendment and Fourth Amendment, and to bring a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.
00:11:13:14 – 00:11:30:14
Seth
So that’s a fairly broad defense, which doesn’t tend to happen that often, which you can say, it wasn’t my fault. My council did a terrible job of telling me what the rules are and so forth, and that usually gets waived as well. But that, I guess, was his out. Should he have continued to go forward here?
00:11:30:17 – 00:11:51:26
Keith
Yeah. And then the court says, Hey, before you do this, are you really, really sure? Because if you say you’re guilty, it’s a felony and you’re going to lose a whole bunch of rights. You’re going to lose your right to vote, right to hold public office, right to serve on a jury that I was sitting there going, Oh, my God, that’s all I got to do
00:11:51:26 – 00:11:55:16
Keith
to not serve on a jury is say I’m a convicted felon?
00:11:55:18 – 00:11:56:17
Seth
If I think about the.
00:11:56:17 – 00:12:20:02
Keith
Last one, the last one is to possess a firearm. And that he says, yes, sir. So at this hearing, then they decide, okay, the guy is pleading guilty. What are we going to do? Are we going to hold him? Well, come to find out. He’s already being detained in another state matter. So what we’ve been talking to you about a federal matter.
00:12:20:05 – 00:12:42:24
Keith
He had a state matter that was also going on at the same time. And because of that, he was already in jail slash prison. So they just kept him there now and they kept they held him, but they also held him without any type of bond. And I thought it was pretty interesting that in the paperwork they actually said he’s a serious risk.
00:12:43:00 – 00:12:44:10
Keith
Risk of flee.
00:12:44:10 – 00:12:49:13
Seth
Yeah, I guess that’s true. Since you can be very quickly get a flight. Right. We saw that.
00:12:49:15 – 00:12:49:26
Keith
Yeah.
00:12:49:26 – 00:12:52:28
Keith
And so basically
00:12:52:28 – 00:13:27:17
Keith
the government says there is literally no condition we can think of possible that’ll hold this guy around for trial if you were to let him out. He has to stay in prison while we figure this criminal process out and because of that, the court agreed with him. The court said, you know, even if I were to let you out at this point, there’s other cases that you would be in for.
00:13:27:19 – 00:13:44:28
Keith
So we’re not even going to debate it at this point. You’re just you’re in you’re you’re in jail at this point. And so if you want to just put yourself in Bryant’s shoes right. You just you’ve been flying around the world doing a bunch of cool shit and a lot of this cool shit we have not even told you about yet.
00:13:44:28 – 00:14:00:25
Keith
Okay? Because it’s coming as bits and pieces are coming to you in the story. I’m not just going to give it to you all upfront. There’s a bunch of other cool shit that he did when he was flying around, but now he finds himself just sitting there. Just sitting his jail cell going, What should I do with my time?
00:14:00:25 – 00:14:12:25
Keith
Now I know I will talk to The Daily Beast from jail. And because of that, The Daily Beast writes this article and
00:14:12:25 – 00:14:33:08
Keith
Mr. Bryant, that’s just it. It it’s basically him just saying, I did all this stuff. And I will tell you, I rarely like to use news as a source for this podcast. I try to use the court documents as much as possible and news only what I need to fill in gaps.
00:14:33:10 – 00:15:01:00
Keith
This is the one exception where reading the news you’re going to just you’re going to fall off your chair just like I did. And hold on. Just when you think it gets bad in this case, it just it continues to get worse. And we have this article and we’re going to read it to you. And of course, you’re going to hear Seth and I make comments about it like we make comments about everything else and hopefully it’ll be funny and you’re going to see how much it affects your case
00:15:01:03 – 00:15:20:14
Keith
talking to the media before your case is decided. Okay, When the attorneys say don’t talk to anybody, they really mean don’t talk to anybody. That includes other attorneys, media, anybody. And you will see how this comes back and bite him. So if you like anything in this podcast, please, if you’re on Apple Podcasts, give us a five star review.
00:15:20:14 – 00:16:00:02
Keith
If you are on YouTube, give us a like give us a subscribe if you’re on any other app, whatever that app is, whatever the like function of that app is, whatever that equivalent is, please give it and subscribe on any of those apps because each week we bring you a new case and then we chop up the case over the week over several acts. And we just finish with Act two and we’re leaving you hanging an Act three because Bryant, he’s going to talk to The Daily Beast and basically this is where the shit starts flying in this case, and it’s going to be just buy a hat, hold on and
00:16:00:02 – 00:16:07:19
Keith
come back to Act three because it is that intense. So thanks for sticking around and we will see you on Act three. Thanks. Bye.
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