FORT MYERS — Southwest Florida roofing company executive Casey David Crowther has been sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison after being convicted in a PPP loan fraud case where he bought a $700,000 boat, among other expenditures, with the ill-gotten gains.
On March 26 a federal jury convicted Crowther, 35, of Fort Myers, on bank fraud, making a false statement to a lending institution and two counts of money laundering. Senior U.S. District Judge John Steele handed down the sentence July 1. The court, according to a statement, also ordered Crowther to forfeit $2,739,081.21; $630,482.37; and a 40’ catamaran boat, which were the proceeds of the PPP fraud and the mortgage fraud offenses. The boat was a 2020 Invincible Catamaran boat purchased from Sara Bay Marina in Sarasota.
Before the trial started in March, Crowther pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, which were related to a mortgage fraud scheme, the release states. As part of the mortgage fraud scheme, Crowther created false bank statements to justify a loan he had used to purchase a nearly $1.3 million waterfront house in St. James City.
According to evidence at the trial, Crowther obtained a $2.1 million PPP loan by falsely stating he had intended to use the money to make payroll and pay rent and utilities for his company, Fort Myers-based Target Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc….
