My question involves criminal law for the state of: Mississippi
Im going to try to post as many details of what happened so hopefully I can get the most useful advise possible. I'm not sure if what this person did is technically check fraud or not so hopefully someone more familiar with it can tell me and help me figure out what I can do about it now if anything.
I live in Biloxi and about 2 months ago a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta came to town to gamble. Ive known him for a couple years and have seen him lose and win tens of thousands of dollars at a time. I had loaned him money before and didnt have a problem getting it back before.
This time he came and quickly lost the money he brought and asked me to loan him what I had on me and he'd pay me right back. I gave him $4000. He lost that and asked for more. He said he couldn't take a marker or take money out his bank account because he didnt want his wife to know he was there losing. I gave him $6000 more. He lost that.
Here is where I think he may have done something illegal. He asked for more and I said I couldnt loan him more. He said he'd give me a $10,000 check I could deposit in the morning if I gave him cash. I did and he did.
The next morning he was acting suspicious and saying weird things abouts his bank just called him and said the IRS froze his account. I told him to bring me to his bank which was like 4 hours away and he did. When we got there I went in with him and listened. He was claiming to the bank rep that he had just deposited $30,000 and asking where it was. They were looking at him crazy and saying he only had like $100 in that account!
I never could get him to admit he was lieing about having the money in the account and he just kept promissing to get me the money. To this day he has given me nothing.
My questions are: Did he do anything illegal? If so, what do I do? Even if not, what can I do to get any money back?
Some other info:
*The money I gave him was from my business I own as a sole proprietor and the check he gave me was written to it.
*I havent done anything with the check he gave me, I wasnt sure whether or not to put it in the bank and let it bounce or keep it.
*Even though I gave this money pretty casually, it is a ton of money to me and I only gave it to him because I thought the check was good.
*It seems like all his assets pretty much are in his wife's name except maybe a business he has 50% ownership in but doesnt make much money it seems.
*He says he has insurance money coming in for a store he had that was robbed and sent me a copy of the settlement aggreement for $150,000 but its also in his wifes name. He claims he forged her signature and he will have the only access to it when it comes in. He started being vague and giving me the runaround lately though.
Someone please help me figure out what to do. I know this was stupid on my part so please no advice on what I should or shouldn't have done. Thanks.
Edit: In case it's relavent, I have a ton of texts and emails from this guy cooberating basically everything Ive said.

