Former Hershey Man Sentenced To 11 Years’ Imprisonment For Numerous Fraud Offenses

 HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Michael Jay Jackson, age 61, formerly of Hershey, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday to eleven years’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, on bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering charges.  Jackson was also ordered to pay $1,567,275 in restitution.  Jackson was previously sentenced in March 2019.  In May 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated that sentence and remanded for resentencing.

According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Jackson pled guilty in November 2017 to an indictment charging him with twelve counts of wire fraud, five counts of bankruptcy fraud, nine counts of false bankruptcy declarations, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.  Jackson defrauded his creditors, the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and his wife by filing seven Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions, five of which were under Jackson’s name, and two of which were under his wife’s name without her knowledge or consent.  The petitions contained false information regarding Jackson’s income, assets, and employment, and were filed in order to postpone multiple Sheriff’s sales of his Hershey residence.  Jackson filed the last two petitions under his wife’s name after the Bankruptcy Court barred Jackson from filing any further petitions for two years in May 2015.

Jackson also pled guilty in March 2018, to a two-count criminal information charging him with wire fraud and money laundering.  Jackson perpetrated a loan-fraud scheme involving a bogus business venture between 2007 and 2017 that defrauded 22 victims out of approximately $1.7 million.  Jackson registered a corporation by the name of INTEX Building Materials Group, Inc. (INTEX BMG) with the Pennsylvania Department of State in 2007, listing himself as the sole shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of the company.  Jackson defrauded his victims by convincing them he had the backing of Brookstone Partners, a New York City capital investment company, to lend him millions of dollars to acquire companies that manufactured building products.  Jackson induced his victims into giving him loans to pay for his personal expenses, including his children’s college tuition, while the victims awaited consummation of the deal with Brookstone.  Jackson promised his victims huge returns on what were supposed to be short-term loans.  Jackson also provided copies of what he claimed to be e-mails from Brookstone principals that falsely represented the INTEX BMG deal was real.

In reality, INTEX BMG was a “paper” company that did not hold any significant assets, did not have any paid employees, and never generated any income.  Jackson provided his victims a variety of explanations as to why INTEX BMG did not go “live” in order to lull them into not taking action against him.  Jackson would repeatedly blame the protracted delays upon the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), various state regulators, and the Canadian government.  Many of the victims of Jackson’s loan-fraud scheme were from central Pennsylvania.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlo D. Marchioli and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel prosecuted the case.