Canadian Indicted for Securities and Wire Fraud

RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that on October 18, 2013, a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina returned a two-count indictment charging JAMES ALAN ROWAN with securities fraud and wire fraud.

ROWAN is a Canadian citizen who served as president and chairman of Enviro-Energies, a Delaware-registered corporation, headquartered in Canada. As detailed in the indictment, ROWAN claimed to have developed and patented a new type of turbine to generate clean electricity for homes and small commercial establishments. He told potential investors, distributors, and customers in the United States that he developed and patented a new type of wind turbine that did not require a tower to support the turbine assembly. ROWAN referred to his line of wind turbine models as “Mag Wind Turbines.”

Through aggressive marketing efforts over the Internet and in person, ROWAN received endorsements for the Mag-Wind Turbine design concept from unwitting Hollywood celebrities and environmental activists. Additionally, the grand jury alleges that ROWAN made numerous false and deceptive claims to his U.S.-based distributors and customers about the Mag-Wind Turbine by exaggerating its power generation capacity, falsifying scientific and technical data, and falsifying information regarding his capacity to manufacture and distribute the Mag-Wind turbines. The grand jury also alleges that ROWAN inveigled U.S. investors in North Carolina, California, and elsewhere into purchasing Enviro-Energies shares by falsely telling them that these shares would be listed on the stock exchanges through an initial public offering (IPO). Even though some investors responded to ROWAN’s false claims, once they paid for their shares, ROWAN never delivered the actual share certificates.

If convicted, the maximum penalties for the charged counts are 20 years in prison for securities fraud and 20 years in prison for wire fraud. The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Evan Rikhye.