Federal Prosecutors Charge Southside Man with Mail and Securities Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 10, 2012 |
BIRMINGHAM—Federal prosecutors today charged a Southside, Alabama man with running a fraudulent investment scheme through which he stole about $300,000 from investors, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Haley, III, U.S. Postal Inspector/Domicile Coordinator Frank Dyer, and Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph P. Borg announced.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Glenn Lavon Gillman, 75, with one count of mail fraud and one count of securities fraud in an information filed in U.S. District Court.
Count one charges Gillman with making false funding agreements and using the U.S. Postal Service to send those false investment statements to individuals who had invested their money with his business, G&G Financial Services. Count two charges Gillman with issuing false funding agreements as securities to various investors who were investing their personal funds with his business.
According to the charges against him, Gillman conducted his investment scheme as follows:
Between 2007 and 2010, Gillman operated a financial investment business known as G&G Financial Services. Individuals gave their money to Gillman with his representation that he would invest it with a third party who was familiar with the foreign exchange currency market. Gillman represented to the investors that they would receive substantial returns on their original investment within 60 to 90 days. In many instances, funding agreements and profit reports were mailed to investors and indicated that they had a security in these transactions and their accounts had profited.
When investors began asking to receive their profits or original investments, Gillman mailed them letters claiming their investments had been seized or stolen by other parties. A review of Gillman’s personal and business accounts determined that he never forwarded any investor money to a third party. Instead, Gillman used that money to pay other investors, purchase items for himself, or pay personal expenses. Through his fraudulent activities, Gillman stole nearly $300,000 from investors.
The maximum sentence for mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The maximum sentence for the securities fraud is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Alabama Securities Commission investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney is prosecuting the case.