Roanoke Man Pleads Guilty to Credit Card “Bust Out”
The Roanoke Times reports a Roanoke businessman racked up $70,000 in debt during a month long credit card “bust out,” making fresh charges on overdrawn accounts after small payments temporarily unfroze them. Ahmad Abedallah Al-Mikdadi, 42, pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution. Each charge carries a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Al-Mikdadi owed credit debt of about $62,000 when he began a “bust out” in early March 2009. Al-Mikdadi submitted credit card payments from accounts that either were already overdrawn or simply didn’t exist. Banks have a delay between logging the payment and discovering there was no money to back it up. Al-Mikdadi used the loophole to take out about $17,000 in cash advances and to buy about $10,000 worth of airline tickets for others. By month’s end, Al-Mikdadi’s credit card debt had swelled to about $132,000.
