Bart Wade Reagor v. United States

Under 18 U.S.C. § 1014, a person is guilty of a crime if they “knowingly make[] any false statement or report” to, inter alia, obtain a loan from a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In the decision below, the Fifth Circuit affirmed Reagor’s conviction for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014 based on its finding that Reagor “represented to the bank that the loan would be used for working capital.” It was not disputed that the loan was used for working capital, though some of the loan was also used to make owner distributions. Reagor’s conviction was thus premised on the idea that his promise to use the loan for working capital, though not overtly false, was partially misleading because Reagor also intended to use some of the loan for owner distributions, while purportedly aware that working capital is entirely distinct from owner distributions. In sum, the Fifth Circuit allowed Reagor’s conviction to stand even though the record below allows only for a finding that he made a materially misleading but not a false statement. Accordingly, the question presented is: Whether the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is in direct conflict with this Court’s recent holding in Thompson v. United States, 145 S. Ct. 821 (2025), which held that misleading but not false statements cannot support a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1014. 11386618.5