August 7, 2025 – FRESNO, CA – Matthew Dane Billingsley, 39, of Fresno, pleaded guilty on Monday, August 4 to one count of wire fraud in a scheme that defrauded individual lenders and financial institutions out of $30 million, Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez announced.

According to court documents, between June 2018 and February 2023, Billingsley made false representations about having a brokerage account with millions of dollars in assets to serve as collateral for loans. Billingsley gave fabricated brokerage account statements to obtain more than $30 million in loans from individual lenders and financial institutions. The brokerage account statements were false because the brokerage account did not exist. Billingsley also misrepresented to individual lenders and financial institutions the intended use of the loan funds and instead used the money to pay down previous loans and for his personal benefit.

To obtain one of the loans, Billingsley used a Fresno restaurant owner’s name and signature on a profit-sharing agreement that Billingsley created and forged. Billingsley presented the false and fraudulent profit-sharing agreement to a financial institution to obtain a loan.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany M. Gunter is prosecuting the case.

Billingsley is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on Nov. 10, 2025. Billingsley faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Source: DOJ Release