Stephenville man pleads guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges

FORT WORTH, Texas - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, announced that Clayton Lloyd Iley, a 41-year-old Stephenville, Texas businessman, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft offenses on June 17. These offenses arose from a scheme wherein he illegally obtained credit cards and offered a scam loan program to victims.

"My office will not stand by and allow criminals to scam Americans out of their hard-earned money without consequence," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "Fraud doesn't just harm an individual - it disrupts families and communities across all 100 counties of the Northern District of Texas. Its effects are felt most deeply by those who are vulnerable, including elderly residents who are too often targeted by schemes designed to exploit their trust. Protecting every community in this district is my unwavering commitment, and we will aggressively pursue anyone who preys on the innocent and work to ensure victims receive the justice and restitution they deserve."

"This plea demonstrates the lengths these criminals will go to defraud members of our communities," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. "The FBI and our partners remain committed to identifying and investigating the perpetrators of these fraudulent schemes and encourage the public to notify the FBI if they suspect they are the victims of fraud."

According to court records, Iley operated an insurance brokerage business named Clayton Texas Legacy Insurance Group, LLC from its headquarters in Cross Plains, Texas and offered home, auto, life, health, farm & ranch, and commercial insurance policies to the public.

Court documents show from January 2020 through May 2026, Iley used at least two entities he controlled, Texas Legacy Holdings and Enterprises, LLC and Spartan Global Security, LLC dba as "Black Eagle PMC," to conduct financial transactions. Texas Legacy Holdings operated as a holding company and was used to conduct financial transactions. Spartan Global purported to offer private security services, commercial security services, corporate security services, and private military contracting services.

Iley defrauded victims by, among other things:

• Falsely representing to victims that he could invest their funds in a "Bonded Note" loan program he claimed was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense to private military contractors, when in reality, Iley knew the relevant loan program did not exist. During the relevant time period, Iley collected over $2 million based on this misrepresentation and used the funds to pay his own personal expenses and to execute other parts of his fraudulent scheme
• Falsely representing to specific Texas Legacy Insurance clients that he would accept client funds and cause Texas Legacy Insurance to initiate requested insurance policies on their behalf, when in reality, Iley knew he would accept their insurance premium payment funds, fail to open requested insurance policies, and instead intended to use their funds to pay his own personal expenses and to fund the relevant fraudulent scheme
• Providing the victims' personal identifying information (e.g., first name, last name, etc.) to financial institutions to fraudulently secure credit cards bearing the names of those specific victims without their knowledge or authority and then using the resulting credit cards to deposit funds into Spartan Global bank accounts and claim the transactions were gross receipts for the business; and charge personal expenses and payments towards the purchase of the vehicles.

As part of his plea agreement, Iley agreed to forfeit property over 90 exotic collector vehicles obtained with funds from his fraudulent scheme. To date, federal investigators have seized the following vehicles, which will be sold to fund restitution owed to the victims of Iley's fraud scheme:

• 1968 Pontiac Firebird
• 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
• 1973 Plymouth Coupe
• 1974 Chevrolet Camaro
• 1979 Pontiac Trans AM
• 1982 Chevrolet Camaro
• 1989 Humvee
• 1990 BMY M923A (military vehicle)
• 1993 AM General M923 (military vehicle)
• 2006 Dodge Viper
• 2012 Lamborghini Aventador
• 2013 Toyota
• 2014 Dodge Viper
• 2015 Lamborghini Huracan
• 2016 Ferrari 488
• 2016 Mercedes Benz AMG Coupe
• 2018 Ferrari 488
• 2021 Porsche Taycan
• 2022 Maserati Coupe
• 2022 Maserati MC20
• 2022 Maserati MC20
• 2024 Dodge Ram

Iley was charged through an Information with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. His sentencing is set for Oct. 1, before U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman. Iley faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud offense and a mandatory sentence of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft offense.

The FBI's Fort Worth Resident Agency, the Texas Rangers, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Stephenville Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac McDonald is prosecuting the case.