Feds: Deerfield man indicted in multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme
A suburban man is one of three people indicted on federal fraud charges, accused of swindling investors out of more than $3.9 million, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
Lee S. Rose, 82, of Deerfield, is charged with wire fraud and transfer of money taken by fraud. Edward L. Wooten, 51, of Macon, Georgia, and John L. Krcil, 55, of Hanover, Minnesota, are facing the same charges.
In 2019, the three men claimed to work for a Wyoming investment company called Black Lion Investment Partners Inc. and approached investors suggesting trading programs that allegedly yielded multimillion-dollar investment returns within a short time, according to the indictment.
The men claimed their “private placement” trading programs involved investment-grade, fixed-income securities of “top-rated” banks and financial institutions, and that investor funds would be returned within 60 days if they failed to perform, the release stated.
They now stand accused of failing to use all investor funds to conduct trades, not paying any trading profits to investors, and not returning all funds as promised, amounting to $3,905,000 in losses to six investors, including a real estate business in Florida, private individuals in Idaho and California, and a children’s charity in Oklahoma.
On top of wire fraud and transfer of money taken by fraud, Wooten and Rose are also being charged with money laundering and making false statements to the FBI. Rose is also being charged with making false statements to a federal judge, and the SEC.
The indictment was unsealed Thursday in a U.S. District Court in Chicago.