Organizer of Texas Music Festival Indicted

James Watson Jr. has been indicted on charges of bank fraud and credit card fraud, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The indictment was returned today by a federal grand jury in Houston. Watson, 54, who is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in California for a similar scam involving the Sacramento Jazz Festival, was charged in a two-count indictment with bank fraud and credit card fraud arising from a scheme related to the 2008 Texas Music Festival. The Texas Music Festival was scheduled to take place at Eleanor Tinsley Pavilion in Houston from Aug. 30, 2008, to Sept. 1, 2008. The indictment alleges Watson was the principal organizer of the Festival and that he recruited individuals to invest more than $2 million and promised them a return of their principal plus a profit. In connection with the scheme, Watson used investors to engage in a $400,000 check kite at Bank of America, fraudulently and without authorization using the credit card number of one investor to make a charge on the card in exchange for another investor who believed the card was Watson's, giving him cash. Posted in: Check Fraud