A woman wears a COVID-19 mask. | Alvaro Barrientos, AP
Published on May 20, 2024 at 4:44 pm
A man from Ponte Vedra Beach has been accused of enticing people to invest over $7 million in a phony medical supply company that he claimed was profiting from selling COVID-19 personal protective equipment, prosecutors said Monday.
James Elliott Davis II, 35, was indicted on 16 counts of bank fraud, 12 counts of wire fraud and one county of money laundering and theft of mail.
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Davis told investors he ran a company called Medisale Inc. that had contact with CEOs at various hospitals and contracts to supply N95 masks and other PPE, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Davis showed investors bank statements with large balances, claiming the money was from the sale of PPE, prosecutors said.
In reality, Medisale had no contracts and no true revenue. David kited checks and conducted fraudulent wire transfers to inflate the apparent balances in his bank accounts, prosecutors said. He then used the investors’ money to buy a membership at a luxury club in Ponte Verdra Beach and spent $27,000 on custom clothing, the news release said.
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If convicted, Davis faces up to 30 years in prison for each count of bank fraud, up to 20 years for each charge of wire fraud and up to 10 years on the money laudering count.
