(WFRV) – A federal grand jury returned a 25-count indictment for a man from western Wisconsin who is accused of running a five-year-long scheme.

According to the Department of Justice, 43-year-old Robert Carter is facing 25 charges stemming from a scheme where he allegedly defrauded financial institutions and other businesses. Carter made his first appearance in court on October 19.

Carter is charged with 17 counts of wire fraud, two counts of identity theft and six counts of money laundering. From April 2016 to January 2021, Carter is accused of running the scheme.

The indictment says that Carter got credit cards and loans by giving false information on applications. He allegedly listed false employment, false income, false ownership of real estate, false length of time of ownership and residence at his home and using the identity of another person.

Carter is also accused of making false statements and giving false documents to various business owners and investors to get a business’s identification and proprietary information. He then used this data to apply for loans without the permission of the actual business owners.

Throughout the fraud scheme, Carter is accused of obtaining $511,177. If he is convicted, Carter would face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each of the 17 wire fraud charges. It is up to 20 years for the money laundering charges.

The identity theft charges each have a mandatory minimum penalty of two years and federal law requires that any sentence on these charges be served consecutive to any other prison time.

Carter is reportedly from Eau Claire.

No additional information was provided. Local 5 will update this story if more details are released.