Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Silicon Valley Bank Of Over $3M

LA QUINTA, CA — A man who formerly led a La Quinta-based communication services company pleaded guilty Friday to federal criminal charges that he fraudulently received $5 million in bank loans by, among other things, submitting sham financial documents to the lending institution, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Richard Loren Lewis, 67, of La Quinta pleaded guilty to bank fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution.

According to his plea agreement, from April 2013 to April 2016, Lewis schemed to defraud Silicon Valley Bank, a Santa Clara-based commercial bank that funds start-up technology companies.

Lewis, who was the CEO of Blue Wave Media Inc., and served on its board of directors, submitted bogus financial documents to the bank, including balance sheets and income statements, which falsely overstated, among other things, Blue Wave Media’s net worth, liquidity, and revenue, the FBI investigation uncovered.

In total, the Silicon Valley Bank approved four loans totaling $5 million based on Lewis’s misrepresentations, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

As a result of Lewis’s deceit, Silicon Valley Bank sustained actual losses of approximately $3,414,064, according to the plea agreement.

U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb scheduled a July 30 sentencing hearing, at which time Lewis will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.