8 Financial Managers Indicted in $72M Scheme

News April 12, 2023 at 02:16 PM
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Eight managers of a Lucas County, Ohio investment firm were indicted on multiple felonies for their roles in a decade-long scheme, cheating at least 200 clients out of $72 million, according to an indictment filed in the county's Court of Common Pleas in Toledo; Dave Yost, Ohio attorney general; and Sherry Maxfield, Ohio Department of Commerce director.

One of the managers, Gary Rathbun, was a broker barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on May 17, 2016, according to his report at the regulator's BrokerCheck website. He is also a former registered investment advisor.

Rathbun was permitted to resign from Triad Advisors while under internal review for violating the firm's policy on private securities transactions, according to another disclosure on his report. Royal Alliance Associates was among the other four firms for which he worked as a broker in his 27-year career.

Both of those firms are part of Advisor Group, which declined to comment Wednesday.

In the indictment filed last week, Rathbun was charged with 37 felonies. The other seven managers charged were: James DelVerne (93 felonies), Doug Miller (39 felonies), Colleen Hall (10), Nancy Rathbun (7), Adam Solon (7), John Walters (6) and Brad Konerman (5).

The felony charges included engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, unlawful securities practices, telecommunications fraud, aggravated theft, perjury, money laundering and several other financial charges, Yost and Maxfield said in a press release on Tuesday.

Seven defendants were arrested Tuesday and the eighth was "in the process of turning himself in," according to Yost and Maxfield. The indictment was unsealed following the arrests.

The case centers on Northwest Capital, a Toledo investment firm that Yost and Maxfield said served as an intermediary between investors and businesses raising capital by selling account receivables.

According to the indictment, from January 2011 to December 2021, the defendants solicited investment advisory clients to buy alternative investments from securities issuers without fully disclosing the managers' conflicts of interest. The defendants also manipulated funds among interrelated entities to make the investments seem successful.

To continue raising additional capital from clients, the managers and their business associates created new, affiliated entities for investment without disclosing to existing investors the poor financial condition of the companies and the monitoring fees skimmed by the defendants, according to Yost and Maxfield. They then certified false investment values that were shared in annual statements issued to investors.

A total of 741 investments from at least 200 people —  about $72 million combined — were allegedly mismanaged.

In addition to Northwest Capital, other entities and investment funds associated with the indictment included Briarfield Capital, ThunderRoad Partners, TRF Fund 1, TRF Fund 2, Kings Point Leasing and Winding Creek Partners.

The case was the culmination of a multi-year investigation by the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of Securities and the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

(Image: Shutterstock) 

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