A U.S. Army veteran is going to prison after causing $48 million in federal student loans to get wiped out for hundreds of borrowers he claimed were permanently disabled military veterans — but they weren't, federal prosecutors say.
The man scammed more than 500 people into paying him fees for what they thought was true student debt relief help and stole nearly $900,000 from them in total, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Now De'reek Banks, 41, of Lithonia, Georgia will serve six years in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to theft of government property, an Aug. 23 news release from the attorney's office says.
He must also pay back $910,416 as a result of his scheme, according to prosecutors.
McClatchy News contacted Banks' attorney for comment on Aug. 24 and was awaiting a response.
Court documents show Banks and his attorney had sought a lesser sentence so he could return to his family faster, continue caring for his eight children and “resume his medical care outside of a prison facility.”
Beginning in 2019, Banks, a veteran who was injured during his Army service and continues to suffer medical issues as a result, began exploiting a federal student loan program meant for disabled veterans, according to court documents.
He did so by misleading hundreds of student loan borrowers about purported “special government programs”…
