Arlington Heights businessman gets 2 years in prison for defrauding investor

An Arlington Heights businessman has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding an investor out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal authorities said Monday.

Sean Moran, 39, owner and president of Arlington Heights-based DCL Capital, was sentenced last Thursday after pleading guilty to wire fraud on Sept. 14, 2016, FBI spokesman Garrett Croon said.

According to a court filing, federal prosecutors say an investor provided $750,000 to Moran's company in 2013 and 2014, but lost more than $600,000 due to Moran's "fraudulent scheme."

In November 2013, Moran told the investor he would use his proprietary trading strategy to invest $225,000, federal prosecutors said. Instead, Moran used the money for personal expenses, including paying down credit card debt, prosecutors said.

Moran later told the investor his money was generating positive returns from trading activity, even though the funds he did invest resulted in substantial losses, according to court documents.

Federal prosecutors say Moran also sent the investor a fraudulent account statement in December 2014 showing a false account balance of $818,900 in principal and year-to-date profit of $35,753, when in fact only $126,000 of the investor's money was left.