Ellenton man gets federal prison time after $20 million fraud scheme with dad, DOJ says

An Ellenton man is headed to federal prison for six and a half years after he pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme that took in over $20 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a news release Thursday.

Loyd Tomlinson II, 58, owned and operated LTA International Global Services LLC, an export management company based out of St. Petersburg. He was running the company with his father, Loyd Tomlinson Sr., when the crimes occurred, the Department of Justice says.

LTA International began to struggle financially around 2015, an FBI investigation found, and the following year, the Tomlinson’s came up with a plan to try to save the business with an elaborate fraud scheme.

Tomlinson II’s part in the scheme involved the creation of fake bank statements, business records and documents, U.S. attorneys say. He used the fake documents to borrow money from private investors, and he “used other entities as possible alter egos to raise money or divert sales off the books,” the news release says.

Making use of the fake records and documents, the Tomlinsons eventually obtained a loan of $20.6 million from a financial institution in 2019, the Department of Justice says. The loan was never repaid.

At the sentencing, a U.S. District Judge also entered a monetary judgment of $240,000 against Tomlinson II.

Tomlison Sr. was also charged in the fraud case and pleaded guilty in August 2021. His sentencing hearing is set for March 25.