Jackson Jambalaya

A Madison County contractor was convicted of bank fraud in 2006.  The Justice Department charged Chris Creely with one count of bank fraud and alleged that he arranged for fraudulent mortgages of over $300,000.  The defendant pleaded guilty in 2007.


The bill of information states:

Beginning on or about June 2002, and continuing through May, 2003, in Hinds County in the Jackson Division of the Southern District of Mississippi,and elsewhere, the defendant, JOSEPH C. CREELY, aided and abetted by others, knowingly devised and executed a scheme or artifice to defraud Bancorp South, a financial institution being at all times insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and to obtain funds which were owned by or under the custody or control of said bank, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.

It was part of the scheme and artifice that, the defendant engaged in a pattern of making nominee loans to straw borrowers, knowing that{1) the loans were not being made for the purposes stated in the loan documents; (2) the proceeds of the loans were for the benefit of another individual who could not have obtained the loans in his own name; and/or (3) the stated collateral for the loans was misrepresented or nonexistent.

It was further a part of the scheme that CREELY, at the time the loans were made, knew that the proceeds of the loans would not be used for the stated purpose in the loan documents, and/or knew that the loans were for the benefit of the individual to whom CREELY knew could not obtain the loans in his own name.

Creely pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and serve a three month term of home confinement.  Judge Tom Lee sentenced him to pay an $8,000 fine and restitution of $113,852.  Restitution was paid and the Justice Department reported satisfaction of the judgment to the Court.

Creely owns Arrow, LLC.  Arrow, LLC and Central Roofing, Inc.  The Secretary of State's website reports that Central Roofing was dissolved on December 20, 2014 by the Secretary of State.