Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud in Idaho Federal Court
Defendant Admits Stealing $449,643 from Click Sales Inc.

BOISE—Christopher L. Myers, 37, of Cave Creek, Arizona, pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Boise to one count of wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Myers was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boise on May 17, 2013, on 26 counts of wire fraud.

According to the plea agreement, from April 2006 through November 2011, Myers was employed by Click Sales Inc., doing business as ClickBank. For a portion of that time, he served as the company’s comptroller. Click Sales Inc., a subsidiary of Keynetics Inc., operated a Boise-based Internet business that facilitated payments between retailers and consumers. ClickBank received payments from consumers for the purchase price of goods and services, kept a portion of the purchase price as commission, and remitted the remainder to the retailers by checks, ACH transfers, and wire transfers. Some of ClickBank’s retailer-clients failed to timely cash the checks. As comptroller, Myers was responsible for tracking these “issued but uncashed” checks.

According to the plea agreement, beginning in August 2008, on 26 separate occasions, Myers wire transferred funds from ClickBank’s bank account to his personal bank accounts at a different bank. The funds that were wire transferred corresponded to the “issued but uncashed” checks to ClickBank retailer-clients. In total, Myers admitted he wire transferred approximately $449,643 from ClickBank’s bank account to his own bank accounts. According to the plea agreement, Myers did so with the specific intent to defraud and used the funds for personal purchases and expenditures, including mortgage payments and personal investment and retirement accounts.

Myers agreed to pay $606,989 in restitution to ClickBank, which includes $449,643 that Myers admitted he fraudulently wire transferred and $157,346 for costs incurred by ClickBank in its internal investigation, interest, and penalties.

The charge of wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, and up to three years of supervised release.

Myers is scheduled to be sentenced on January 6, 2014, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the Boise Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.