OXNARD : Bail Reduced in Credit Fraud Case

Two men accused of bilking American Express out of more than $1 million had their bail reduced to $100,000 each by a Ventura County Superior Court judge on Tuesday, but not without a fight from prosecutors.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John L. Geb told Judge Charles W. Campbell at a bail hearing that Wayne N. Fleischer and John J. Haggerty could flee the county or continue fraudulent credit schemes if allowed out of Ventura County Jail.

“The court should not release either defendant because of the serious risk (they will) return to the same conduct,” Geb argued. “Creditors will soon own everything they have anyway, so what’s the point of (them) staying in Ventura County to face criminal charges?”

The men were indicted by the grand jury last week on charges of grand theft and tax evasion related to what Geb called a Ponzi scheme. Fleischer and Haggerty operated an Oxnard financial planning business.

The two men are accused of falsifying credit information in their clients’ applications to American Express. They would then borrow larger and larger amounts each month in their clients’ names, Geb said.

American Express suffered most of the loss, but several credit card holders lost money in the scheme, Geb said.

Fleischer, 48, and Haggerty, 46, were arrested June 7. Fleischer lives in Oxnard, and Haggerty, who works in Oregon, previously lived in Ventura.

Defense attorney Richard Hanawalt claimed outside court that American Express breached its contract with his clients when the company cut off credit to them.

“We didn’t feel what we did was anything other than what was contractually aboveground,” Hanawalt said. “Everything was going fine until American Express breached its contract by shutting us down.”

An arraignment was scheduled for July 22.