Three Sentenced In Connection With Ponzi Scheme
Earlier today in federal court,
The sentencing of
Beckman, Durand and Kiley were charged in a second superseding indictment on
In sentencing Beckman,
Following the sentencings, U.S. Attorney
The evidence presented at trial proved that between 2005 and November of 2009, the defendants, along with Cook, defrauded investors by soliciting them to invest money in a foreign currency trading program that they alleged would earn a double-digit rate of return, typically between 10.5 and 12 percent annually, with little or no risk. They also claimed investor assets would be held in a segregated account and could be withdrawn at any time. Those representations were false.
The defendants and Cook made the investment offers through entities known as Universal Brokerage Services or bearing the acronym "UBS." (The UBS entities had no legitimate affiliation to the global provider of financial services
Once investments were made, some investors received UBS account statements that indicated that the currency program was performing as promised, while others received checks for "returns on their investments." Both the statements and checks, however, were actually produced by the co-conspirators, the purpose being to lull investors or encourage them to make additional investments. At the same time, most investors received nothing from the true custodians of their funds.
Although some investment funds were invested in foreign currency trading, most of that trading was high risk in nature, often resulting in significant losses, none of which was disclosed to investors. Moreover, the co-conspirators concealed that the currency trading firm in
In 2007, when
Between 2005 and
While Beckman was soliciting investors for the currency program, he also was attempting to purchase a minority ownership interest in the
Moreover, Beckman filed false individual income tax returns for tax years 2007 and 2009 and failed to file a tax return for 2008. For that year, Beckman and his wife owed more than
For his part, Durand concealed more than
In his plea agreement, Pettengill admitted that from February through September of 2008, he concealed material information from investors concerning the foreign currency program sold by Pettengill, Cook, and others known as the Oxford Entities Currency Program. He also conducted numerous wire transfers during the course of the conspiracy and made a personal credit card payment of
In August of 2010, Cook was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison for his role in the scam. On
This case was the result of an investigation by the
Proceeds from the Cook fraud scheme are the subject of an ongoing investigation and recovery efforts led by
This law enforcement action is in part sponsored by the interagency
TNS JF78JF-130105-4159386 EditorFurigay
Copyright: | (c) 2013 Targeted News Service |
Source: | Targeted News Service |
Wordcount: | 1558 |
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