‘List Is Growing’ In Fraud Case Fbi Agent, Prosecutor Describe Leasx Official As Sociopathic Con Man

A defunct Spokane leasing company cheated at least 10 victims out of $1.5 million “and the list is growing,” an FBI agent testified Tuesday.

Agent Craig Nevitt’s testimony came at a detention hearing where defense attorney Richard Bechtolt unsuccessfully attempted to get businessman Michael David Booth out of jail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno ordered Booth held without bond after determining he is a significant economic danger to the community.

He was described as a “sociopathic confidence man” by a federal prosecutor.

Booth, 37, surrendered to federal authorities in Spokane Friday after being named in a Jan. 12 indictment accusing him of four counts of wire fraud.

Louis Robert Bories was arrested earlier, and remains in jail with a $50,000 bond.

The two LeasX executives are charged in U.S. District Court with taking $250,000 from a South Carolina company that was promised $5 million worth of leased equipment. The company, Irvine Flexible Package, didn’t get the leased equipment or its money back.

Since the indictment was returned, the FBI has learned about other struggling businesses who gave money to LeasX, hoping to get investment capital or equipment.

“There’s not one legitimate transaction that (the FBI) has been able to uncover,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice said at the court hearing.

Booth spent the money on expensive mountain bikes, chartering a private jet, staying at a downtown hotel and leasing or buying two Mercedes and three Land Cruisers, Nevitt testified.

“We’ve identified 10 to 11 victims, with a dollar loss of $1.5 million and growing,” Nevitt told Imbrogno.

The other victims weren’t identified, but Rice said they are from various parts of the United States.

Booth and LeasX also owe $170,000 to MerryMac Computer of Spokane, $13,000 to Hotel Lusso and $73,000 to Kustom Built Exercise Equipment, Nevitt said.

The FBI investigation of LeasX has revealed that Booth spent $37,000 on mountain bikes at Two-Wheel Transit; as much as $40,000 for rooms at Hotel Lusso and an undetermined amount for purchases at Dodson’s Jewelers.

Rice said federal investigators haven’t found any assets to seize, including the two missing Mercedes.

LeasX became a defunct corporation last summer after Booth and Bories failed to file necessary legal papers with the secretary of state’s office.

“There is no LeasX corporation,” Nevitt testified.

Booth moved to Spokane on federal supervised release - a type of probation - after serving an 18-month prison term for a similar $620,000 fraud scheme in Sacramento, Calif.

A background report on Booth in that case determined he is a sociopath, Rice said.

“His sociopathic disorder is untreatable,” the prosecutor said, citing the background report.

“He convinces people to part with their money in exchange for promises to get them equipment or money for equipment,” Rice said.

“He is a confidence man … who outright lies whenever it suits his purposes,” the prosecutor told the court.

Shortly after Christmas, the LeasX executives announced that a subsidiary, Angular Communications Inc., was leasing a 70,000-square-foot building at 627 E. Sprague.

Bories said the former bank data-processing building would be extensively remodeled into a large telemarketing center that would employ 200 people.

Defense attorney Bechtolt forwarded five letters from business owners who told the court they found Booth to be “professional.” Bechtolt also said Booth isn’t a flight risk and has shown up when requested.

“It is not the risk of flight that concerns me,” the judge responded. “What concerns me is the risk to the community.”