A federal appeals court denied Michael Capps a new trial on Tuesday, upholding the former Kansas lawmaker’s conviction for defrauding federal COVID-19 relief programs in 2020. Capps had challenged U.S.
Judge Eric Melgren’s decision not to reread jury instructions a second time during the trial. Judge Harris L. Hartz, a George W.
Bush appointee, wrote the opinion for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ three judge panel, who sided with Melgren. Capps did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. in December 2022, including one count of bank fraud, three counts of false statements to a bank and the Small Business Administration, four counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
to 27 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office seized $197,306.
83 from one of his accounts. Capps was also ordered to pay an additional $319,000 in restitution. Capps has remained out on bond in Oklahoma pending the 10th Circuit decision.
It’s unclear when he will be ordered to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Melgren allowed Capps to remain out of prison while his appeal moves through the courts despite concerns from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that “a confidential human source reported that (Capps) had accounts in Panama and that (Capps) had traveled to Panama to obtain dual citizenship as it would be ‘Plan B.
’” Capps acknowledged in court filings that he had become a legal resident of Panama but lost his status because the U.S. attorney wouldn’t allow him to travel there in February 2023.
To maintain legal residency in Panama, you must return at least every two years. Capps has so far refused to cooperate with federal authorities who are trying to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars he owes in restitution for defrauding COVID-19 relief programs in 2020. And the U.
S. Attorney’s Office has expressed concerns that Capps will spend the money he owes or move it overseas before they can collect it, limiting what Capps, 46, will pay to 15% of his Social Security disability checks for the next 20 years. His Veteran’s Affairs disability payments cannot be garnished.
For the past 15 months, he has filed appeals and a flurry of motions — while representing himself — attempting to block the federal government from getting the money he has been ordered to pay. The convictions also haven’t stopped Capps’ entrepreneurial streak, which he caught while working in the IT department at Wichita-based Koch Industries. That later blossomed into a career that included jobs at Westar Energy (now Evergy), the United States Air Force, private contract work for the FBI’s pre-9/11 modernization project and in the Middle East with defense contractor Halliburton before returning to Kansas to start his own companies.
Two of those companies — Krivacy LLC and Midwest Business Group LLC — and the Fourth and Long Foundation, a youth sports charity under Capps’ control, folded in 2020 and 2021 after a to tap into nearly $500,000 of COVID-19 relief aid. The Eagle had previously linked those entities to aimed at former Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple. Earlier this year, Capps launched an online business academy called .
For $99 a month, businesses or individuals can join the Silver Bullets Academy, which appears to be based on Capps’ self-published e-book called “Six Silver Bullets: Six Surprisingly Simple and Effective Strategies Smart Entrepreneurs Use to Gain Control of Their Time, Team, and Money and Grow Their Business Profits Fast!” It’s unclear how well the business is doing. Capps, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his time in combat, claimed in recent court filings that he has a negative net worth and that his primary source of income — more than $65,000 a year — is disability benefits from Veteran’s Affairs and Social Security. He said the nearly half a million dollars he received from a wrongful death settlement and his mother’s estate has been largely spent on legal fees, financing his businesses, paying down debt and failed investments in cryptocurrency.
The government has been able to collect less than $3,000 from Capps in 20 months since he was convicted: $1,332.06 from life insurance policies and $1,042.94 garnished from Capps’ Social Security Disability Income.
Since filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 2016, Capps has racked up $93,275 in credit card debt and unsecured loans and a civil judgment of $220,000 in a lawsuit , court records show. The U.S.
Attorney’s Office said in a filing earlier this year that Capps “shows a penchant for luxury” that has not stopped since he was indicted in 2021. He drives a 2022 Dodge Ram valued at $47,501, according to the filing, and co-owned a private airplane that crashed in 2022 and was later sold, other court records show. Capps has said he is indigent and has refused to voluntarily provide information about his personal finances and assets.
But prosecutors contend he has money stashed somewhere. “The United States has reason to believe Defendant Capps has additional assets available to pay his outstanding restitution judgment,” one filing by the U.S.
Attorney’s Office said. It also noted Capps’ annual disability benefits are more than $10,000 higher than the median family income for a family of one in Oklahoma. Capps previously lived in Wichita and moved to Oklahoma after his sentencing.
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