Pastor turned cabin builder faces federal charge up to 20 years for defrauding clients
By Jennifer Emert
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A former western North Carolina pastor-turned-cabin builder has reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
Jason Speier has agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud by wire. The charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of a term of supervised release. A court date has not yet been set.
Clients told News 13 it was Speier’s charisma that drew them in. News 13 investigative reporter Jennifer Emert first exposed client complaints in January 2024. In a News 13 exclusive investigation, what started with a dozen clients grew to more than 30 impacted in several states for more than $3 million combined.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s 11-page factual basis revealed at one point while Speier was taking another contract for a cabin in August 2023, Kabens, a Sandinavian-style log home kit building company, was behind on approximately 40 customer projects. The factual basis, however, focuses on the time frame from when Speier took over Kabens on Nov. 18, 2022 through Oct. 1, 2023.
During that time frame, U.S. Attorney David Thorneloe claims Speier accepted payments from 24 customers totaling $2,355,310.24. During that time, Speier also continued to accept payments from eight customers who contracted with Kabens prior to November 2022, totaling another $211,412.01.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s factual basis Speier after Nov. 18, 2022 Speier received approximately $2,566,722.25 in total customer payments. All payments moved in interstate commerce, resulting in charges of fraud by wire.
The government’s factual basis claims Speier “held his business out as a general contracting company that contracted with customers to build European-sourced log cabin kits into turnkey residences. Neither Speier nor his company was actually a general contractor, and he did not have a source of supply for European log cabin kits.” It claimed Speier and Kabens lacked the means, ability and intent to perform the construction services he promised in the contacts he made with his customers.
Speier started out as a salesman, hired when the company was known as Affordable Log Homes. That company was owned by an individual only identified as R.M. in the federal government’s paperwork. The company ran into delays and obstacles during the COVID pandemic and construction progress slowed. Speier then made numerous sales by setting unrealistic expectations.
Speier’s influence in the company during that time grew, and Speier assumed full control of sales sometime in 2021. When the company failed to complete cabin builds within the timelines, it quickly got behind schedule on 11 cabins and was $200,000 in debt. Speier sought to rebrand the company and registered a new business named KI Enterprises, which did business as Kabens. R.M. operated the construction side of Kabens with Speier over sales. The business continued construction on incomplete ALH builds. During that time, Speier started a new bank account for Kabens at First National Bank of Pennsylvania.
The government’s paperwork claims Speier developed an alluring online marketing and social media presence for Kabens and built a sales team which made numerous sales in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Speier promised customers turnkey builds from Eurpoean-sourced log cabin kits, knowing that he couldn’t fulfill the promises.
Kabens’ contracts required unusually large deposits, often as much as 50% of the total build cost. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Speier often misrepresented the purpose of the funds to customers. Rather than use the deposits to purchase kits, the funds were applied to overhead expenses, pre-existing projects, as personal profit, and for other non-Kaben related matters.
According to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, Speier has never been a licensed contractor.
To build the cabins he was selling for over $40,000, he needed a licensed contractor’s name on the permits. The case alleges KI Enterprises, then owned by Speier, however, signed contracts using the name of licensed general contractor Terry Wray Bowling. Bowling had told clients that was not his signature on the contracts and that his signature had been forged.
The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors filed a civil case against Speier in Wake County, but Speier, despite, receiving the summons, never responded to the complaint, and the state court found in favor of the North Carolina’s Licensing Board for General Contractors complaint. That complaint is separate from the current federal charge, but the federal complaint points to the state’s allegations that Speier was not a licensed contractor and they had denied his application, because of repeat complaints.
The factual basis lays out three instances of when customers paid Speier a deposit for a turnkey cabin, and he failed to deliver. They include projects in Saluda, one simply identified as being in western North Carolina and another in Sylva.
In one instance, the factual basis claims Speier after receiving the first two deposits, encouraged someone identified at M.B. to move the client’s project forward in “little ways that he can see.” Speier then directed M.B. to stake the expected corners of the build site. According to the factual basis, “M.B. was not a surveyor and he did not have any home construction or surveying experience.” In a text message, M.B. told the client he was planning to stake the corners stakes in the ground at the build site. The client then wired an additional $47,188.27 deposit in September 2023. The same day, Speier wired $30,000 to a friend for a personal loan.
The factual basis for the government claims Speier did not order materials with the client’s deposit money, Speier did not have a materials supplier and never constructed a cabin for that client.
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