Fraud funds Texas man’s charter flights, yacht trips and fancy hotels, feds say

A Texas man who fantasized about living a lavish life “turned to fraud” to get the lifestyle he was dreaming of at 23 years old, according to federal authorities.

J. Nicholas Bryant, now 26, spent about two years defrauding entities out of charter flights, private yacht outings, extravagant steak dinners, luxury vehicles and fancy hotel stays, according to a Nov. 9 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Now Bryant has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison. His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Nov. 10.

“Like many of his peers, Nicholas Bryant apparently coveted the life of the rich and famous,” U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham said in the release. “Unlike his peers, he wasn’t about to let a lack of funds get in the way of his fantasy. Without the interference of our law enforcement partners, this defendant would be well on his way to becoming Lubbock’s Anna Delvey or Frank Abagnale.”

Authorities said Bryant tricked at least 50 victims by booking luxury services, then using online payment platforms, including QuickBooks, to make it look as though he had made a payment.

But then he would cancel the payments he never intended to actually pay, authorities said.

“Knowing that the software would generate payment confirmations immediately, but would take several days to notify victims of cancelled payments, Mr. Bryant satisfied vendors and business owners that payments were forthcoming when due,” according to the news release.

In one example, Bryant initiated $76,000 in payments for round-trip charter flights from Lubbock to Miami, according to court records. But once he was in Florida, the charter company learned the first invoice had failed.

Bryant promised to pay his balance with a wire transfer but never did, officials said. His plane was grounded in Dallas.

“In this manner, he obtained more than a dozen private jet flights, a half-day sail on a 90-foot yacht, numerous high-end hotel rooms, extravagant steak and champagne dinners, and five luxury vehicles worth more than $500,000,” according to the release. “He also racked up a bill for substantial materials and labor on a $980,000 home and pool.”

Bryant added “legitimacy” to his scheme by pretending to be the son of wealthy oil investors or an employee of several companies, according to court records.

“He assumed identities of fictitious persons, communicated with victims under assumed names, and even created sham websites to further his scheme,” officials said. “In at least once instance, he convinced the owner of an oil and gas company, who had previously worked with and trusted him, to front roughly $150,000 to open a fictitious oil well.”

In total, Bryant admitted he schemed fraud victims out of over $1.5 million.

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