A former Southlake attorney who promised small-business owners multimillion-dollar loans instead siphoned away more than $8 million, using the money for luxury purchases and personal expenses. William Thomas Engle, 68, will now spend nine years in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay more than $8.27 million in restitution.
Engle was sentenced Thursday, July 30, in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. The judgment also requires him to forfeit a Jeep Wrangler and several pieces of jewelry, while the FBI's Fort Worth Resident Agency investigated the case.
The case came to a close after a trial began in January, with Engle pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud following two days of testimony from victims, the Dallas Morning News reported. He had originally faced charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and transactional money laundering.
How The “Good Faith” Accounts Worked
Federal prosecutors said Engle ran the scheme from 2020 through 2022 by offering to secure multimillion-dollar business loans in exchange for upfront deposits into accounts he called “Good Faith Accounts.” Victims were told their deposits would remain secure and would be returned whether or not the loans were funded, according to the Justice Department.
Customers testified that they transferred upwards of $2 million to Engle while waiting for their loans. He sent them bank statements that appeared to show the money sitting safely in those accounts, but trial evidence showed the statements were fraudulent and the funds had been moved into his personal accounts.
Instead of returning the deposits, Engle allegedly offered a rotating supply of explanations for why the loans had not closed. Prosecutors said he used the money to buy a yacht, vehicles and jewelry, leaving victims with neither the promised financing nor their deposits.
Federal Case Ends With Prison And Restitution
The Northern District of Texas court calendar lists Engle's July 30 sentencing in Fort Worth and notes that he entered his guilty plea on Jan. 6, after the second day of jury-trial testimony. The remaining counts were set to be dismissed as part of the plea resolution.
The sentence follows an indictment filed in September 2025 and a case that placed a familiar small-business need—access to capital—at the center of an alleged fraud scheme, the Dallas News account said. Federal prosecutors described the victims as business owners seeking legitimate financial help, not speculative investors chasing a quick score.
For those owners, the damage was not just the loss of money but the collapse of promised financing that could have helped keep their companies moving. Engle's prison term and restitution order now put a federal price tag on a scheme built around trust, forged paperwork and the promise that the money was supposedly safe.
