Bart Reagor scheduled to appear in federal court for bank fraud charges

LUBBOCK, Texas - Bart Reagor, Reagor-Dykes Auto Group owner, is scheduled to appear in an Amarillo federal court today after being charged with two counts of bank fraud and one count of making false statement to a bank insured by the FDIC. If Reagor opted to not appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lee Ann Reno for arraignment, his defense counsel would have had to submit a waiver of appearance at arraignment and entry of not guilty plea by no later than noon the day before the arraignment is set.

A federal grand jury indicted Bart Wade Reagor, 55, on Thursday, April 22, 2021. He will make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lee Ann Reno at 2 p.m.

If convicted, Reagor faces up to 90 years in federal prison, and will be required to forfeit any property traceable to the offense.

According to the indictment, in the first quarter of 2017, one of Reagor Dykes’ floorplan lenders conducted an audit that placed the auto group in a weak cash position.

In order obtain cash to continue operations, D & R Acquisitions, a limited liability company formed to hold Reagor Dykes’ real estate assets, entered into a loan agreement with International Bank of Commerce (IBC). The agreement included a $10,000,000 working capital loan, which was distributed by IBC to D&R in two tranches: $5,000,000 in July 2017 and another $5,000,000 in February 2018, to be disbursed to the various RDAG entities.

However, in applying for the loan, Reagor allegedly misrepresented its purpose, concealing from IBC the fact that he planned to divert some of the proceeds from the working capital loan into his own personal account for personal expenses. (The loan agreement expressly prohibited Reagor and others from diverting loan proceeds to their personal bank accounts, and IBC would not have approved the loan if Reagor or anyone else had disclosed to IBC that some of the loan proceeds would be diverted to Reagor’s personal bank accounts.)

In total, the U.S. Attorneys Office says Reagor diverted more than $1.7 million to his personal account at Prosperity Bank -- $766,277 in July 2017, following IBC’s disbursement of the first tranche of money, and $1 million in February 2018, following IBC’s disbursement of the second tranche of money.

Prior to Mr. Reagor’s indictment, 15 of his employees pleaded guilty to various crimes involving dummy flooring and check kitting at Reagor Dykes. Their sentencing dates have been set.

Reagor’s attorney, Dan Cogdell, released a statement last week saying his client is not guilty and is the victim of criminal conduct by people he trusted with his business.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and Internal Revenue Services - Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Frausto, Jeffrey Haag, and Amy Burch are prosecuting the case.