Barren County Financial Advisor Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Embezzling Approximately $2.3 Million from Clients

LOUISVILLE—A Barren County, Kentucky financial advisor was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. on December 14, 2012, to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,278,692.81 to 14 victims, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Jonathan Neal Leber, 36, of Glasgow, Kentucky, pled guilty on September 4, 2012, to charges of defrauding clients residing in Kentucky and southern Indiana, of approximately $2.3 million.

“These are serious crimes. For many of the victims, the money stolen represented nearly all of their life savings,” stated U.S. Attorney David J. Hale. “Investigating and prosecuting those who defraud investors is a priority of the Department of Justice and my office. We are grateful for the outstanding work done by the FBI and Kentucky State Police, which helped to stop these crimes and bring Leber to justice.” Leber was charged in a one count federal indictment on June 13, 2012, with devising a scheme to defraud and to obtain money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises from individuals who were clients of the defendant’s financial advisement business, Intrepid Financial Strategies Inc.

According to the indictment, between August 1, 2007 and January 14, 2011, Leber would promise to invest clients’ money in bonds and tax lien certificates paying returns between four percent and six percent; reinvest clients IRA accounts in to qualified “rollover” investment accounts paying higher rates of return and would not result in fees or cause tax liabilities; and invest client money in stocks, bonds, annuities, and a Styrofoam recycling business. The indictment states that Leber never intended to make the investments that were represented to the clients and instead intended to and did expend these monies for his personal benefit and gain and for the benefit and gain of a personal business venture—Cedar Ridge Shooting Ride Academy LLC—that Leber formed, owned, and operated.

Leber was previously indicted in Bullitt Circuit Court on three felony counts of forgery and received a probated sentence after entering a guilty plea on all counts. He was sentenced in Jefferson Circuit Court in June 2012 to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud charges and is currently serving this sentence in Kentucky state prison.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jim Lesousky and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police.