A 41-year-old Dallas man is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he ran a yearslong scheme that bled more than $40 million out of banks and private lenders, using falsified financial records to secure loans and then diverting the money into unrelated ventures. Garrett Douglas Johnson was indicted on five counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud, and part of the alleged fallout is visible on the shoreline of Lake Texoma, where a marina he controlled fell into such disrepair that federal regulators shut it down.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas, the indictment names several major regional, FDIC-insured lenders as targets of the scheme, including Texas Capital Bank, Happy State Bank, American National Bank & Trust and Gateway First Bank. Johnson kept primary residences in Dallas as well as Kingston and Edmond, Oklahoma, while managing corporate entities across both states, federal court documents show. As reported by Dallas News, Johnson represented himself as an owner, manager or partner of several companies when seeking financing, including Marina Del Rey, Blue Duck Energy, an oil and gas company, and American Select Partners, a Dallas-area insurance business.
A Trail of Falsified Loan Applications
Federal prosecutors detailed one of the earliest instances in August 2020, when Johnson secured a $1.5 million loan from Texas Capital Bank after falsely claiming he held more than $6.6 million in an escrowed trust account, per the Justice Department. Dallas News reports that Johnson also claimed millions of dollars were held in nonexistent trust accounts on other occasions and overstated revenue in loan applications, according to prosecutors. In 2022, he falsely stated that one of his companies had more than $9 million in accounts receivable while obtaining a $6.5 million revolving line of credit, prosecutors say.
The scheme also reached private lenders. Prosecutors allege Johnson convinced a private lender to wire $2.5 million by misrepresenting how the money would be used. Investigators say he used money from new loans to fund unrelated business ventures and to repay earlier debts, and at one point transferred more than $100,000 to a personal account to pay the IRS, according to federal prosecutors.
Marina Loan Diverted Into Oil and Gas
The largest single loan cited in the indictment came in December 2021, when Johnson obtained a $9.23 million loan from Happy State Bank that was intended for marina infrastructure improvements at Marina Del Rey on Lake Texoma. Federal authorities allege that instead of repairing the marina, Johnson diverted millions of dollars from that loan to acquire oil and gas interests.
The consequences were physical and visible. Following severe storm damage and unaddressed safety hazards including sinking docks and broken walkways, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revoked Marina Del Rey's Lake Texoma lease in February 2025 and ordered the facility vacated by April 30, 2025, according to the Madill Record. Marina Del Rey also filed for bankruptcy amid the collapse, Dallas News reports. In response to mounting safety citations and the bankruptcy litigation, a Marshall County judge appointed veteran resort manager Bill Glascock as a third-party receiver in May 2025 to manage operations and lead safety overhauls at the marina, the Madill Record reported.
Ten Entities, One Alleged Web of Debt
The indictment names ten distinct business entities controlled or represented by Johnson during the alleged six-year scheme, including Federal Employee Services LLC, Hard Knox Holdings LLC, Hilyard Capital LLC, Sloan Ventures LLC, 30Days Holdings LLC, Jet Texas Oil LLC and Jett Holdings LLC, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors say Johnson obtained loans from several financial institutions across this network of companies, using the overlapping entities to conceal debt and inflate revenue claims.
The case was investigated by the FBI's Dallas Field Office. U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said pursuing major financial fraud cases is essential to preserving institutional trust in North Texas, a region he described as experiencing rapid expansion as a national financial industry hub.
Decades in Prison, Assets on the Line
Johnson faces up to 30 years in federal prison on each of the five bank fraud charges if convicted, and up to 20 years on the wire fraud charge, prosecutors said. Each bank fraud count under 18 U.S.C. § 1344 also carries a fine of up to $1 million. The indictment contains formal criminal forfeiture notices requiring Johnson, upon conviction, to forfeit any property, real estate, or money directly or indirectly derived from the alleged bank and wire fraud offenses.
Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of property tied to the alleged offenses as part of the case moving through the Northern District of Texas. Meanwhile, at Lake Texoma, the receivership installed under Glascock continues working through the safety overhaul that followed the marina's shutdown, though the pace of recovery for local boaters and residents remains an open question tied to the broader financial unraveling described in the indictment.
