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Tag: James Yacone

  • BULLETIN: Philip Lochmiller Sr., 64-Year-Old Recidivist Huckster And Ponzi Schemer, Effectively Sentenced To Life In Prison

    BULLETIN: Philip Lochmiller Sr., the Colorado recidivist securities huckster and Ponzi schemer whose case drew comparisons to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case for a lack of key disclosures to investors, has been sentenced to 405 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $18.6 million.

    The term amounts to nearly 34 years. Lochmiller is 64. He was taken into custody immediately by the U.S. Marshals Service upon his sentencing, federal prosecutors said.

    U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer presided over the case.

    “Make no mistake,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh of the District of Colorado. “Today’s sentence, which amounts to a life sentence, demonstrates that those who rob with the pen and the computer cannot evade the painful consequences of their crimes. Although this sentence can’t by itself undo the damage suffered by the many victims of this fraudulent scheme, justice was done.”

    All in all, the scheme attracted more than $30 million and affected more than 400 investors, prosecutors said.

    “Today’s sentencing provides 403 citizens victimized by Philip Lochmiller Sr some justice for the devastating financial losses he caused with deceit and misrepresentations,” said James Yacone, FBI special agent in charge.

    Added Sean Sowards, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit in Denver: “IRS Criminal Investigation will work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously pursue and hold accountable those who perpetrate these schemes to get rich quick at the expense of honest Americans.”

    Lochmiller’s stepson — Philip Lochmiller Jr. — also was implicated in the scheme. So was Shawnee Carver, an employee of Valley Investments, a company linked to Lochmiller’s Valley Mortgage Inc. entity.

    Lochmiller Jr. earlier was sentenced to eight years and ordered to pay $18.6 million in restitution. Carver was sentenced to two years and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.

    Lochmiller and two members of his family were sentenced to prison for their roles in a California securities swindle in the 1980s, according to records. The 1980s scheme operated in the Greater San Diego area and resulted in 1,600 investors being bilked out of a total of $5 million.

    Investors in Lochmiller’s most recent scheme were not told about his previous felony conviction, prosecutors said. Nor were they told about a bankruptcy filing.

    Like Lochmiller, ASD’s Andy Bowdoin shielded investors from knowing he had been implicated in an Alabama securities swindle in the 1990s and had pleaded guilty to a felony, according to court filings.

    At the same time, ASD investors were denied information that Clarence Busby, a key Bowdoin business associate, had declared bankruptcy and had been implicated by the SEC in three prime-bank swindles in the 1990s, according to records.

     

     

  • Reputed Colorado ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Matthew O’Neill Pleads Guilty To Providing False Information After Mailing White Powder To State Department Of Revenue; Envelope Triggered Terrorism Scare And Evacuation Of Employees From Government Building

    On May 17, 2011, Matthew “Matt” O’Neill, 52, entered a post office in Kremmling, Colo., and “filled out documents for certified or registered mail,” federal prosecutors said.

    O’Neill, though, did not immediately put his envelope in the mail. Instead, he left the post office and “reentered several times before finally mailing” it, prosecutors said.

    By May 25, a mail-room employee of the Colorado Department of Revenue had begun the typical process of opening the envelope, stapling the documents inside and routing it to the intended recipient, prosecutors said.

    After placing the envelope on her desk, the recipient observed “white powder” falling out onto her work space. She then took the contents to another office, informed a colleague about the suspicious substance — and the two employees placed the contents on the desk, left the office and locked the door.

    They next informed the Revenue Department floor manager, who immediately dialed 9/11 and contacted the Colorado State Patrol. Fearing they’d been exposed to a biological or chemical substance, the two employees tried to decontaminate themselves by washing their hands, prosecutors said.

    More moments of high anxiety followed as the employees waited for the Denver Fire Department and the HAZMAT team to arrive. Practically every adult in America understands the horror caused when powdered substances spill out of envelopes. In September 2011 — about a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks — the anthrax attacks began through the mail.

    Five people died. Seventeen became infected. One of the largest investigations in U.S. history began.

    When the fire department and HAZMAT team arrived at the Revenue Department, first responders — necessarily expecting the worst — took precautions with clothing and equipment and entered the building. An evacuation of people ensued.

    It was not the first time the Revenue Department had heard from Matthew O’Neill.

    As the probe continued, investigators learned that O’Neill had “sent several documents that express his views as a sovereign citizen, and that he believes that he does not have to pay state or federal taxes.”

    O’Neill pleaded guilty this week to providing false information related to a terrorism offense for his mailing of the white powder, which proved to be baking soda but nevertheless caused fear to spread and left employees wondering if they’d lose their limbs or perhaps even their lives.

    “Those who mail a threat, especially one containing material simulating a biological or chemical agent, will face felony criminal consequences,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh.

    “All threatening communications are taken seriously, the recipient of these types of threats cannot determine the true nature of the implied, or stated danger,” said James Yacone, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver office. “The FBI wants to remind everyone that mailing a threatening communication that contains a hoax of any kind in a parcel will be aggressively investigated.  We will continue to respond to such threats, along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, through the combined resources of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

    Whether the power was harmful was not the issue, said the region’s top postal inspector.

    Threatening mailings “not only constitute a federal crime, but cause alarm to victims and victim institutions,” said Tommy Coke, acting postal inspector in charge of the Denver Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

    Sentencing for O’Neill before U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger is set for June 4. He potentially faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

    Some “sovereign citizens” have attempted to use the mail to instill fear among judges, prosecutors, investigators, litigation opponents, community officials and taxing authorities.

  • UPDATE ON DECEMBER 2009 SPECIAL REPORT: 3 Figures In Philip R. Lochmiller Sr. Ponzi Case Will Go To Federal Prison; ‘Elderly Victims Were Financially Devastated,’ FBI Agent Says; Case Involving Recidivist Fraudster Drew Comparison To AdSurfDaily

    In a case that drew comparisons to AdSurfDaily because of recidivism, undisclosed bankruptcies and ties to Utah, the three principal figures of the Philip R. Lochmiller Sr. real-estate Ponzi scheme in Colorado will be going to federal prison.

    Lochmiller Sr., 63, was found guilty in July after a 10-day trial in which the jurors returned the verdicts in three hours. He will be sentenced after a final computation of losses is completed. The case involved a company known as Valley Mortgage Inc. The case involved about $30 million.

    Lochmiller Sr. was found guilty of conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and mail fraud.

    His stepson, Philip R. Lochmiller Jr., 38 when charged, has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit securities and mail fraud and money laundering. Business associate Shawnee N. Carver, 33 when charged, has been sentenced to two years for conspiracy to commit securities and mail fraud.

    Prosecutors announced the sentences imposed on Lochmiller Jr. and Carver yesterday.

    “Philip Lochmiller Jr. helped orchestrate an investment scheme which defrauded over 400 victims out of more than $30 million,” said James Yacone, special agent in charge of the Denver FBI office. “Several elderly victims were financially devastated.  [The] sentencing sent a strong message that white collar criminals will not be tolerated.  The FBI will continue to aggressively investigate and seek prosecution against the groups and individuals who defraud unwitting victims out of their earnings.”

    Lochmiller Sr. was sentenced to three years in a California state prison in the 1980s after he was charged with 60 counts of securities fraud and pleaded guilty to about half of them. Investors in his new scheme at Valley Mortgage were not told of his history as a securities swindler, federal prosecutors in Colorado said.

    Federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia said the same thing about ASD President Andy Bowdoin, who was charged with felonies in Alabama in a securities scheme in the 1990s.

    Meanwhile, Lochmiller Sr.’s investors also were not told that both Lochmiller Sr. and Jr. had bankruptcies on their records. Federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia alleged in August 2008 that ASD members and members of a companion autosurf known as Golden Panda Ad Builder were not told about the bankruptcy of Golden Panda President Clarence Busby.

    Nor were they immediately told that Busby had a run-in with the SEC in the 1990s and was accused of purveying three prime-bank swindles, according to records.

    The Lochmiller case also has a tie to Vernal, Utah, a community to which ASD also has a tie. The Lochmiller case was in part about real estate in Vernal. Vernal is the community in which the so-called “Arby’s Indians” got their start.

    ASD mainstay Curtis Richmond was a member of the bogus “tribe” based in Vernal. The tribe, which used the address of a Vernal doughnut shop as the address of its purported “Supreme Court” and was ruled a “complete sham” by a federal judge, got its derisive name because it once held a meeting at an Arby’s restaurant in Provo.

    Richmond went on to become a pro se litigant in the ASD Ponzi case, accusing the judge overseeing the case in the District of Columbia of “TREASON” and operating a kangaroo court. Richmond claimed the judge overseeing an unrelated case in Utah owed him $30 million. Other ASD figures later claimed government officials owed them sums ranging from the millions of dollars to the trillions.

    Another parallel between the ASD case and the Lochmiller case is the presence of the IRS. ASD’s early deceptions were uncovered by a U.S. Secret Service/IRS Task Force operating in Florida, according to court filings.

    “Investment fraud is like a ‘house of cards’; the underlying structure can fall apart at any time leaving many investors in financial ruin,” said Sean Sowards, a top IRS agent working the Lochmiller case.

    Sowards is the special agent in charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigation unit in Denver.

    “These sentences should remind us that defrauding investors is a serious offense and those who do will be held accountable,” Sowards said.

    Both Lochmiller Jr. and Carver testified at the Lochmiller Sr. trial, prosecutors said.