Embattled ex-Northwest Florida contractor Matthew Banks is inching closer to a resolution in at least one of his 13 cases involving contractor fraud as the state added yet another charge to his list of alleged crimes.
During a hearing Oct. 1, prosecutor Robert Gillespie told Chief Judge John Simon that he amended one of Banks’ cases, adding a charge of grand theft of over $20,000 on top of one of his contractor fraud counts for allegedly repeatedly taking 50% down payments for contracting jobs and completing zero work.
“As the accountant explains, it’s because he has to keep taking money to keep the business afloat,” Gillespie told Simon. “It’s essentially a ponzi scheme here. That’s what we’re looking at.”
While Banks faces upwards of a dozen counts of contractor fraud along with racketeering and white-collar charges, Gillespie told the judge he plans to try a single case first, referencing the case in which he filed an additional grand theft charge.
That case focuses on John Mayfield, who paid Banks and his company, Banks Construction, $61,300 as a 50% down payment for a complete home renovation in 2020.
Banks had a few men complete a partial demolition of the contracted area but he never returned and kept the money, prosecutors say.
Banks obtained a new attorney in the last few months, Joseph Reosti, so the defense and state must reconvene to set an actual trial date. The judge told Gillespie and Reosti to set a date with his office in the next two weeks so they can determine a date for Banks’ trial.
That trial will not be in front of a jury because Banks and his former attorney waived his right to a jury trial, opting for a judge trial instead.
Matt Banks allegedly stole over $5 million from more than 150 victims for three years
An Escambia County grand jury indicted Banks in 2023 of racketeering, aggravated white collar crime, organized fraud and tampering with evidence.
They allege Banks “engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, stole over $5 million in funds, materials and services from more than 150 victims” between May 15, 2019, and Dec. 1, 2022.
Former Assistant State Attorney Russell Edgar said in 2023 that the indictment also accuses Banks of stealing payroll from employees and forging building permit applications.
Edgar said Banks “conducted Banks Construction LLC in an unlawful manner by committing instances of theft of money and funds from homeowners and business owners, by committing theft of payroll monies from his employees … forgery of building applications, workers compensation fraud and insurance fraud.”
Banks has been the center of attention regarding contractor scams in the greater Escambia and Santa Rosa area for years after Gulf Breeze woman Jennifer Anderson, one of Banks’ most outspoken critics, said his construction company took $40,000 for a kitchen remodel, demolished the kitchen and never returned.
Anderson’s experience led her to identify over 100 people throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties who had hired Banks Construction for remodels but were allegedly scammed out of their money. Eventually, this led to an investigation by the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement, an arm of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
On his indictment alone, he faces up to 95 years in prison.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Contractor Matt Banks has new charge tacked onto ballooning ‘ponzi scheme’ case
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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