A former broker has been charged with multiple counts of fraud after he used the funds of older adult and other clients for his own benefit, including to make "large race car-related purchases" and to pay his own taxes, according to Bridget M. Brennan, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment charging Thomas Brenner, 58, of Orrville, Ohio, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from criminal activity, Brennan said Tuesday.
The defendant was a financial broker and president of First American Securities in Orrville. He was registered as a broker with that firm from 2011 to 2016, according to his report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's BrokerCheck website.
According to the indictment, in March 2015, the defendant and others allegedly conspired together to recruit the defendant's clients to "invest" in United RL Capital Services, a company that purportedly financed medical laboratory developments.
It was alleged that Brenner and "Person-1" solicited investors over the phone, via letters and in person.
The two of them misrepresented material information to the clients, such as statements about their money being used to finance medical laboratory developments, that they would receive their money back with interest after three years, and that United RL was a safe firm to invest in or safer than other investments, according to the indictment.
Clients Conned Out of IRA Funds
Some investors, allegedly at the defendant's and Person-1's encouragement, removed money from their IRAs to invest in URL and Brenner and Person-1 misrepresented that doing so wouldn't result in tax penalties, the indictment says.
The indictment describes how the defendant, instead of using the investors' money as promised, allegedly used those funds for his own benefit.
When investors asked about their investments, Brenner and Person-1 allegedly misrepresented that their investments were secure and provided some investors with sporadic, small payments, disguised as installments of earned interest, in order to lull the investors into believing their money was safe and being used as promised.
