Southlake man sentenced after using fraud scheme to buy yacht, luxury items

A Southlake man's wire fraud scheme to buy himself luxury items will send him to federal prison for nearly a decade.68-year-old William Thomas Engle of Southlake was sentenced to nine years in federal prison on July 30 after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.Engle, a former attorney, engaged in a fraud scheme from 2020 to 2022 by promising small businesses multi-million-dollar loans if they provided up-front cash.Customers testified they transferred upwards of $2 million to Engle, who provided bank statements purportedly showing the funds. He would give victims false excuses to explain why the loans had never been funded.Engle transferred the stolen funds to his personal bank accounts and bought luxury items such as a yacht, vehicles, and jewelry.Engle was charged in September 2025 with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and transactional money laundering. The case went to trial in 2026, but after two days of testimony, Engle