When convicted criminals steal hundreds of thousands of dollars or more from credit unions and banks, they rarely explain how they will make restitution after serving prison time. But George Paul Janssen may be an exception – if he plays his cards right, his attorney said.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Ludington in Bay City, Mich., sentenced Janssen, 44, to three years in prison and ordered him to pay $908,235 in restitution for orchestrating an auto loan fraud scheme that defrauded nearly $2 million from credit unions and banks. Janssen pleaded guilty to one felony count of financial institution fraud last August.
"Mr. Janssen's source of income since his arrest has been playing poker at local casinos," Janssen's attorney Keith E. Corbett wrote in a sentencing memo. "He has been quite open with the probation department about his efforts to earn an income from playing poker. He has provided records, which make it clear that he can earn a living playing poker. After his release from federal custody, he will be able to pursue playing a larger venue, which will allow him to earn more money than he can at local venues."
Janssen is a documented professional poker player with a career that includes four World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit rings and earnings that surpassed more than $505,000 over 11 years, according to the Hendon Mob, which tracks poker tournament results and players.
However, the average salary for a professional poker player in the U.S. is $43,000 per year, according to Tight Poker, a content-driven poker training site.
"It should be made clear that at no point in time was Mr. Janssen's poker playing ever a factor in his fraudulent activity," Corbett wrote. "The gambling industry keeps records of all players' winnings, for among other things, tax purposes. Mr. Janssen has always made a profit."
From June 2016 to November 2023, Janssen and co-conspirators submitted false information to financial institutions to fraudulently obtain multiple vehicle loans that he did not possess or intend to acquire.
The FBI launched its investigation after receiving a call from an executive at the $104 million COPOCO Community Credit Union in Bay City, Mich., which later merged into the $1.8 billion Elga Credit Union in Grand Blanc. The executive informed investigators that Janssen's business, Bay Auto Brokers, deposited checks valued at roughly $1.4 million, which were later returned due to insufficient funds.
COPOCO Community issued $1,343,285 in valid checks to Janssen that were deposited into the Bay Auto Brokers business account at Independent Bank in Grand Rapids, Mich.
An unidentified donor, referred to as Individual 1 in the plea agreement, opened Janssen's COPOCO account with a $700,000 investment intended as a floor plan to fund inventory. He used the Independent Bank account for daily operations at the business.
In August 2023, state officials audited Bay Auto Brokers following a complaint about a potentially fraudulent loan. Auditors found that Janssen listed the same fictitious vehicles in multiple loan applications.
He admitted to auditors to "floating the loan," meaning obtaining more than one loan on a vehicle without paying off the first loan. As a result, the state revoked his license to sell vehicles for five years.
During the course of this scheme, Janssen enlisted numerous people to apply for multiple vehicle loans. Collectively, the group obtained more than $3.93 million from 15 credit unions and five banks. The group's outstanding balance on these loans amounted to more than $1.94 million by 2025, according to court documents.
Janssen paid, or offered to pay, applicants for each loan. He used their paystubs to secure financing and repeatedly initiated loans on the same vehicles, which he rarely obtained.
According to an FBI investigation, Janssen withdrew nearly $65,000 from COPOCO Community ATMs from October to Nov. 13, 2023. Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 10, he also withdrew nearly $8,000 from the $128 million Sunrise Family Credit Union, also based in Bay City. Records from Independent Bank showed he received $44,300 in checks from Bay Auto Brokers between Oct. 30 and Nov. 10, according to court documents.
Although Corbett said his client never sought to avoid his responsibility for his offenses, Janssen disappeared for several weeks and told his family and police that he had been kidnapped by cartel members who held him hostage for 33 days, FBI investigators said.
He also told family and friends he was extorted by a Hispanic gang or cartel members from October 2021 to November 2023 and had given them $2 million. The gang allegedly gave Janssen a phone and sent him text messages with instructions on where to leave the money. He allegedly dropped off around $25,000 in various boxes at each location, according to court documents.
Before his arrest, Janssen worked for the U.S. Postal Service. In addition to Bay Auto Brokers, he also owned an auto repair and sales businesses. Financial difficulties surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to his criminal conduct, according to Janssen's lawyer.
After Janssen was sued by COPOCO Community in civil court, he settled the lawsuit by selling his home, 11 acres in Vassar and Bad Axe, Mich., and other assets to his eldest son.
According to sentencing documents, Janssen still owes restitution to the $900 million Members First Credit Union in Midland, Mich. ($192,391); Isabella Bank ($94,347); Bay Port State Bank ($88,015); Port Austin State Bank ($79,975) and SubroIQ in Hermitage, Pa., ($453,505).
Peter Strozniak can be reached at peter.strozniak@arc-network.com.
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