Kenneth Gould, a former Clovis payroll services company owner, pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $800,000 from a bank.

Gould, 68, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 2 by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston.

His guilty plea was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith.

How the Scheme Worked

According to court records, from October 2017 through March 2018, Gould initiated several fraudulent electronic payments from one of his clients’ accounts to his company’s bank account.

Gould then withdrew the money in cashier’s checks while the payments were pending. After the bank credited the fraudulent payments to the payroll company’s account,  it found there were insufficient funds to cover the payments, denied the payments, and attempted to recover its money.

However, about $830,000 of the credited funds were already gone. Gould gave the funds to the client from whose account he initiated the fraudulent payments. Gould did this because he had loaned the individual money and hoped to be repaid. Instead, the client gambled the money away.

Gould repeatedly promised to repay the bank but never did, and a federal grand jury indicted him on Oct. 7, 2021.

The FBI  investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton.