Daniel Burgess Imprisoned For Securities Fraud

The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Daniel Burgess, 51, of Stowe, was sentenced in United States District Court in Rutland to 24 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to a charge of wire fraud. Chief U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford also ordered that Burgess serve a three-year term of supervised release following completion of his prison sentence and pay restitution in the amount of $248,900. The court directed Burgess to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on July 24 to begin serving his sentence.

On October 27, 2016, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned a one-count wire fraud indictment against Burgess. According to the indictment, Burgess engaged in the business of buying and selling securities through a company he owned named Tucker Financial Services. The indictment alleges that in July 2011, Burgess entered into a contract with a woman from Nevada in which Burgess agreed to try to sell 520,000 shares of a penny stock the woman owned. Under the terms of the agreement, the woman would receive 80% of the gross proceeds of any stock sales and Burgess would be entitled to the remaining 20%.

The indictment charges that between August and October 2011, Burgess sold all 520,000 shares of the stock for a total of about $619,000. The woman’s 80% share of the sale proceeds was about $495,000. Burgess paid her about $246,000, but fraudulently converted the remaining money to his own use. Among other things, he financed an expensive European wedding and honeymoon with his victim’s money.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.

Burgess is represented by Brice Simon. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.