Man Who Defrauded Victims of Millions in Investment Fraud Scheme Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Prison

LAS VEGAS—A convicted felon who had been out of federal prison for only a couple of months before he defrauded over 50 individuals in an advance fee investment fraud scheme has been sentenced to 11 ½ years in prison, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Bryan J. Egan, 38, of Las Vegas, was sentenced on Monday, April 9, 2012, by Senior U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro to 137 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution. Egan pleaded guilty on January 6, 2012 to 12 counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud. He received extra prison time because of his criminal history and the significant loss amount and number of victims. Egan must serve the sentence consecutively to a three-year sentence he received in December 2010 for violating the terms of his supervised release for the federal bank fraud conviction he sustained in Nevada in 2001.

“Mr. Egan was only out of prison for two months before he decided to prey on more victims,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “If an investment ‘tip’ sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and before turning your money over to anyone for investment purposes, you should check their background carefully.”

According to the court documents, from about September 2006 to March 2010, while he was on federal supervised release for the prior felony bank fraud conviction, Egan induced persons to pay him fees to help them obtain lines of credit with banks. Egan fraudulently represented to those victims that he had successfully obtained lines of credit for others, when he knew he had not done so, and by concealing from them that he intended to obtain lines of credit using false applications. Egan also induced persons to invest in programs he called “CD w/JV Participation Platform,” “Small Cap Program,” and other names, by falsely representing to them that they would earn large weekly returns when he knew the investment opportunities did not exist. Egan concealed the fraudulent nature of his scheme by using the funds from some victims to provide to other victims who were complaining to report him to authorities. Using these schemes, Egan defrauded 54 persons of approximately $4.3 million and obtained and attempted to obtain from lenders over $3 million. Most of the victims were induced online. Four victims were identified as being from Nevada.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel R. Schiess and Sarah E. Griswold.

This law enforcement action is sponsored by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.