FRANKFORT, KY (Thursday, November 21, 2024) – A Frankfort attorney, Brian Logan, 50, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, before U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, to wire fraud, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.
According to court documents, Logan prepared a will for a client in August 2018. After the client passed away, Logan was appointed executor of the client’s estate, which included real property and cash. The will directed that the majority of the estate’s assets be distributed among certain charities. Instead, Logan transferred $239,600 from the estate bank account to his personal bank accounts in a series of transactions from October 10, 2018, to August 31, 2023. Logan then used these funds for personal expenses, including to make payments on his credit card.
Logan also used fraudulent transactions to transfer the ownership of the estate’s real property to himself. Using his role as executor, he caused the estate to conduct a fictitious transaction selling the property to a friend, then effected a second fictitious transaction causing the friend to sell the property to an entity Logan owned. In each transaction, Logan forged the friend’s name and signature on the deeds. Logan then collected rent on the property for nearly six years, using the funds to make payments on personal credit cards.
In addition, Logan submitted fraudulent documents to a bank in connection with a loan application for the property. He provided the bank with one of the forged deeds and a fraudulent lease that again used his friend’s name and forged signature. Logan used the loan proceeds, totaling $116,000, for his personal benefit.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Robert Holman, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service; and Russell Coleman, Kentucky Attorney General, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Mattingly Williams is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Logan is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5, 2025. He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, and may be ordered to pay restitution and fines. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.
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