TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on May 16, 2023

The Tennessee Supreme Court said Monday it would uphold the forgery convictions and sentences of five defendants who filed more than 100 fraudulent financing statements on the Secretary of State’s website, the Chattanoogan reports. The financing statements falsely claimed liens for the defendants’ alleged security interest in the victims’ property as collateral for millions of dollars in fictitious debt. The defendants were named in a multi-count indictment that charged them with 102 counts of filing a lien without a reasonable basis, a Class E felony, and 102 counts of forgery of at least $250,000, a Class A felony. The Court of Criminal Appeals had affirmed their convictions and sentences ranging from 20 to 50 years.