Wayne McLeod Becomes Subject Of FBI Probe; Agency Asks Victims, Witnesses To Come Forward

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved.

The FBI in Jacksonville has opened a probe into Kenneth “Wayne” McLeod, the Florida man who appears to have committed suicide last week when his alleged $34 million Ponzi scheme was exposed by the SEC.

In a statement on its website, the FBI confirmed an investigation was under way and asked victims and witnesses to come forward.

“Victims and other individuals with knowledge of FEBG are encouraged to call the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office at (904) 248-7000 or to contact us via e-mail at Jacksonville@ic.fbi.gov and include “FEBG” in the e-mail subject line,” the agency said.

Individuals are asked to provide the following:

1. Their full name, address, and contact information.
2. Their point of contact at Federal Employee Benefits Group (FEBG), McLeod’s company, and how they learned of the company and the investment opportunity.
3. Their understanding of the terms of their investment(s).
4. The total dollar amount of their investment(s).
5. A description of any records they have in their possession that confirm their investment(s) — for example, statements, correspondence, etc.

“Clients of FEBG should be aware that not all of the firm’s investments are at risk,” the FBI said. “However, individuals who invested in the ‘FEBG Bond Fund’ or ‘FEBG Special Fund’ may be victims of investment fraud and are welcome to contact the FBI.”

McLeod was 48 when he died June 22. The SEC said his Jacksonville company was paid “up to” $15,000 by government agencies for seminars conducted by McLeod.

The SEC alleged last week that McLeod was operating a Ponzi scheme dating back to at least 1988. The scheme was alleged to have gathered “at least” $34 million.

McLeod’s company conducted seminars at various federal agencies, and also used the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Ga., as a seminar outlet, according to the firm’s website.

FLETC is operated by the Department of Homeland Security and serves as an interagency law-enforcement training organization for 88 federal agencies.

If the company’s seminar schedule is accurate, FEBG completed a seminar for U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) at the FLETC facility in Georgia June 8 — 14 days prior to McLeod’s death. Another ICE seminar was listed for July 2 at the same FLETC facility.

Seminars for the Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) were scheduled July 7-9 in Miami. Dual seminars were scheduled for July 21 — one at the Georgia FLETC facility for ICE, and another in San Antonio for “SSA – OIG,” which stands for Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General.

Seminar schedules dating back to 2006 appear on the site, featuring names such as the FBI, WIFLE (Women in Federal Law Enforcement), the DEA, the IRS, the U.S. Census Bureau, USSS (United States Secret Service), the U.S. Forest Service, USPS (United States Postal Service), ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), NAADHS (National Association of African-Americans in the Department of Homeland Security, US Bankruptcy Court and US District Court, the Federal Public Defenders Office, the National Park Service, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, NABNA (National Association of Black Narcotics Agents), DCIS (Defense Criminal Investigative Service), NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) and others.

It was not immediately clear if members of each of the agencies or employee associations invested in the alleged scheme. Also unclear was the total exposure of investors to losses.