NC Photography Firm Faces Felony Fees Over $1 Million in Alleged Fraud

Christopher Owen Ayscue and Holly Scott Ayscue ran Holly Christina Photography. Now they every face one felony rely of acquiring property by false pretense. The prison expenses arrived as North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson pursues a civil lawsuit in opposition to the pair and their enterprise over complaints from greater than 217 shoppers claiming losses close to $1 million.

The expenses hint again to a contract signed final summer time with bride Morgan Bales. She paid $5,691 for pictures providers for her March marriage ceremony. Arrest warrants declare the enterprise closed earlier than her marriage ceremony, failed to offer contracted providers, and by no means refunded her cash.

“Having close to $6,000 taken from you and no sign of getting it back, I needed to see some kind of justice served just so I could leave it alone,” Bales mentioned, in line with ABC11.

Bales pushed for prison expenses. She felt it was the one strategy to search justice. She needed to discover one other photographer simply six weeks earlier than her marriage ceremony after shedding 1000’s of {dollars}.

Holly Christina Photography specialised in weddings within the Triangle space. Questions concerning the firm’s well being surfaced final fall after brides posted on social media they could not attain anybody with the enterprise. The firm introduced its closure in January.

A decide granted a preliminary injunction in opposition to the corporate and its homeowners after the Attorney General’s Office acquired the patron complaints. The pair is banned from doing pictures in North Carolina till the state’s lawsuit will get resolved.

“As a wedding photography company, you really have to screw up to get sued by your state’s attorney general,” Jackson mentioned in May at a information convention, in line with The News & Observer. “But here we are.”

Two judges have entered judgments in opposition to the Ayscues in civil fits. One decide ordered them to repay a bride $14,207.01 earlier this month, whereas one other decide awarded a bride $3,000 in March.

Holly Ayscue, 26, was launched on unsecured bond. Christopher Ayscue, 26, posted a $20,000 secured bail bond. They’re from Franklinton. Both are scheduled to seem in court docket in August.