Stephenville Businessman Gets 13 Years in Federal Prison for $2 Million Fraud Scheme

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Stephenville businessman who collected more than $2 million through a nonexistent loan program and fraudulently obtained credit cards in victims' names has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison.

Clayton Lloyd Iley, 41, was sentenced Oct. 1 to 160 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman imposed the sentence after Iley pleaded guilty June 17.

The scheme stretched from January 2020 through May 2026 and involved Iley's insurance business, a purported private security company and a holding company, according to federal court records.

Iley operated Clayton Texas Legacy Insurance Group LLC, an insurance brokerage headquartered in Cross Plains that offered home, auto, life, health, farm and ranch, and commercial insurance.

Federal prosecutors said he also controlled Texas Legacy Holdings and Enterprises LLC and Spartan Global Security LLC, which did business as Black Eagle PMC.

Spartan Global purported to provide private and commercial security, corporate security and private military contracting services.

Prosecutors say nonexistent Defense Department program brought in $2 million

One part of the scheme involved what Iley described to victims as a "Bonded Note" loan program.

According to court records, Iley falsely told victims he could invest their money through a loan program provided by the U.S. Department of Defense to private military contractors.

No such program existed, prosecutors said.

Iley collected more than $2 million from victims based on those representations and used the money for personal expenses and other parts of his fraud scheme.

Prosecutors said Iley also took premium payments from some Texas Legacy Insurance clients after representing that he would use the money to obtain requested insurance policies. Instead, he failed to open the policies and diverted the money to personal expenses and the broader scheme.

The fraud extended to victims' identities.

Court records show Iley provided victims' personal information to financial institutions to obtain credit cards in their names without their knowledge or permission.

He then used the fraudulently obtained cards to move money into Spartan Global bank accounts, representing the transactions as business revenue, and to pay personal expenses and purchase exotic and collectible vehicles, prosecutors said.

More than 90 vehicles subject to forfeiture

As part of his plea agreement, Iley agreed to forfeit more than 90 exotic and collectible vehicles acquired with proceeds from the fraud.

Federal investigators have already seized 17 vehicles and obtained a preliminary order of forfeiture. Prosecutors said the vehicles will be sold to help pay restitution to Iley's victims.

The seized vehicles include multiple Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maserati MC20s, along with a Dodge SRT Viper, Porsche Taycan, Jeep Gladiator and several older collectible and military-style vehicles.

Among them are a 2012 Lamborghini Aventador, two 2015 Lamborghini Huracans, two Ferrari 488s and three 2022 Maserati MC20s.

The information released by federal prosecutors did not state the total restitution Iley was ordered to pay or the total number of victims affected by the scheme.

The FBI's Fort Worth Resident Agency investigated the case with the Texas Rangers, Texas Department of Public Safety and Stephenville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac McDonald prosecuted the case.