Former Go Cedar Rapids Executives Charged With Bank Fraud

DOJ Press January 5, 2022

Aaron McCreight, 46, from Dothan, Alabama, has been charged with one count of bank fraud. Doug Hargrave, 54, from Puyallup, Washington, has also been charged with one count of bank fraud. The charges are contained in two Informations filed today in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Informations allege that McCreight, who was then President and CEO of Go Cedar Rapids (“GoCR”), and Hargrave, who was then GoCR’s Finance Director, executed a scheme to defraud a Cedar Rapids bank in connection with loans to GoCR that were used to finance Newbo Evolve, a three-day music and cultural event staged by GoCR during August 2018 that featured concerts by the band Maroon 5 and singer Kelly Clarkson.

The Informations also allege that McCreight and Hargrave defrauded the Cedar Rapids bank by making misrepresentations about Newbo Evolve’s ticket sales, projected revenue, projected expenses, and the true amount of loss that McCreight and Hargrave expected Newbo Evolve to generate. Based on these misrepresentations, McCreight and Hargrave fraudulently induced the Cedar Rapids bank to loan GoCR hundreds of thousands of dollars to be used to finance Newbo Evolve.

If convicted, McCreight and Hargrave each face a possible maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a fine, and a period of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The court will set first appearance dates for McCreight’s and Hargrave’s arraignments.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by United States Attorney Sean R. Berry and Assistant United States Attorney Kyndra Lundquist and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The McCreight case file number is 22-CR-00002. The Hargrave Case file number is 22-CR-00001.