On Tuesday, October 6, former Pensacola contractor Matt Banks walked into court and pleaded guilty to 19 felonies, ending one of the largest contractor fraud prosecutions Florida has seen. He faced up to 240 years in prison across 13 cases. A last-second plea deal caps his sentence at 25 years.
If you are studying for the Florida Business and Finance exam, this case is the textbook example of what contractor fraud looks like when it becomes criminal: RICO charges, theft by contractor, license revocation, restitution, and the Recovery Fund that exam questions love to test. Here is what happened and which numbers to memorize.
What happened
According to the Pensacola News Journal, Banks spent years taking up-front payments for builds and remodels he never completed. Between May 2019 and December 2022, he victimized more than 150 people and stole over $5 million. A grand jury indicted him in April 2023 on nearly 20 felonies under Florida's RICO Act, plus charges for organized fraud, aggravated white collar crime, and tampering with evidence.
The case stalled through 2025 and most of 2026 after his attorney stepped away. Then the deal: Banks pleaded guilty as charged to 19 felonies. The judge noted the plea caps any prison sentence at 25 years, with a mandatory minimum of just over 141 months (about 11.5 years). There is no cap on probation after release. As part of the plea, Banks must pay at least $4,760,335.58 in restitution across 161 victim and business accounts in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, according to NorthEscambia. Sentencing is set for December 4, and several victims are expected to speak.
The charges, translated for the exam
The charge list reads like an outline of the criminal-liability topics on the Florida exam:
- RICO (unlawful conducting of a business enterprise): the state treated Banks Construction as a criminal enterprise, not a failing business. Pattern matters. One bad job is a dispute; a years-long pattern of taking deposits without finishing work is racketeering.
- Organized fraud ($50,000 or more): the scheme threshold. Banks' alleged scheme ran into the millions.
- Grand theft in two bands ($5,000-$10,000 and $20,000-$100,000), matching Florida's felony theft tiers.
- Failure to return contractor payment: thirteen counts split into two bands, $1,000-$20,000 and $20,000-$200,000. Taking a deposit and not returning it when no work is performed is its own charge.
- Tampering with evidence.
Earlier in the case, both counties where Banks worked acted on the license side: Santa Rosa County's Building Code Board permanently revoked his license in August 2022, and Escambia County's Contractor Competency Board revoked his license and issued a $62,000 restitution order for failing to complete customers' home repairs. Banks Construction LLC later filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Note the order of operations for the exam: licensing discipline and bankruptcy can run in parallel with criminal prosecution, and none of them cancels the others.
Testable numbers: the Construction Industry Recovery Fund
Victims of a case like this ask where the money comes from. On the Florida exam, the answer is the Construction Industry Recovery Fund, and the test loves its limits. Per the Florida House staff analysis of s. 489.143, F.S.:
- Division I contractors (general, building, residential): maximum $50,000 per claim, with a $500,000 lifetime aggregate limit per licensee.
- Division II contractors (trade contractors): maximum $15,000 per claim, with a $150,000 lifetime aggregate per licensee.
- A claim must be filed within 1 year from the conclusion of any civil or administrative action based on the act, and the homeowner must first get a final judgment, arbitration award, or restitution order.
- The fund is a last resort: the claimant must show they tried to collect from the contractor's assets first.
- Contractors must give written notice of recovery-fund rights in contracts for residential work under s. 489.1425, F.S., except where labor and materials do not exceed $2,500.
Apply the math to Banks: 161 victim accounts and $4.7 million in court-ordered restitution against a $500,000 lifetime fund cap. Even if every victim qualified, the fund could cover only a fraction. That gap is exactly the kind of exam question this material produces: which limit binds, the per-claim cap or the lifetime aggregate.
Quiz yourself
Fraud, licensing discipline, and the Recovery Fund all show up on the Business and Finance exam. Test your recall with the free 12-question Florida practice test.
Sources
- Pensacola News Journal, "Last-second deal cuts 215 years off Matt Banks' RICO, fraud sentence," Oct. 6, 2026: https://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2026/10/06/matt-banks-pensacola-contractor-pleads-guilty-to-rico-fraud/91659842007/
- NorthEscambia, "Former Contractor Matt Banks Pleads Guilty to 19 Felonies, Faces Up to 25 Years," Oct. 7, 2026: http://www.northescambia.com/2026/10/former-contractor-matt-banks-pleads-guilty-to-19-felonies-faces-up-to-25-years
- Florida House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1217 (2024), recovery fund limits and notice requirements under ss. 489.1425 and 489.143, F.S.: https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1217/Analyses/h1217a.RRS.PDF
- EPGD Law, "What is the Florida Construction Industry Recovery Fund?": https://www.epgdlaw.com/what-is-florida-construction-industry-recovery-fund/