Hamilton man who pretended to be lawyer sentenced to prison

A Hamilton paralegal is going to federal prison for 15 months after pretending to be a lawyer to obtain high-limit credit cards.

A federal judge sentenced Grady Calhoun, 35, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud for pretending to be lawyer and racking up more than $400,000 in credit card charges.

Calhoun was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for three counts of bank fraud related to making false representations as part of his application to obtain credit cards. He pleaded guilty in June.

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Calhoun made false claims about his occupation and income, according to court documents. During one application process with Chase Bank, he claimed he was the partner and president of a law firm called Serdekor LLC.

Serdekor LLC is an Ohio limited liability company that was created and registered by Calhoun, but it is not a law firm and Calhoun is not a licensed attorney.

Calhoun was employed as a paralegal at a law firm in the Southern District of Ohio.

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Calhoun manipulated the payment process to Chase Bank to keep the credit card accounts open as long as possible, and owes nearly $408,000 as a result of this scheme, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He also fraudulently obtained credit card accounts at Barclays Bank and applied for other lines of credit with another individual’s social security number. Calhoun owes Barclays more than $28,000, according to court documents.

Calhoun has agreed to pay the loss amounts to both banks in restitution.

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