Former Wausau Investment Advisor Sentenced to 8 Years for $1.9 Million Ponzi Scheme

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Anthony B. Liddle, 41, Wausau, Wisconsin was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 8 years in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering. Liddle pleaded guilty to the charges on February 24, 2023.

Liddle served as an investment advisor for his own financial advisory firm, Prosper Wealth Management in Wausau. Between June 2019 and August 2022, he solicited money from his clients allegedly to place in low-risk investments. However, Liddle never actually invested the money. Instead, he kept the money and spent it on his businesses and on personal expenses, including travel. In total, he stole $1,937,817.92 from his clients.

Liddle maintained a high profile in the investment community, hosting seminars and marketing himself as a successful family man who cared about helping others. Many of the victims were individuals he befriended. When the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions began investigating Liddle, he falsely claimed that each of the stolen investments were loans to him, even going so far as creating false loan documents.         

In selecting a sentence of 8 years, Judge Peterson said he hoped to provide some measure of justice for the victims, whom he described as “hard-working people who accumulated their wealth over a long period of time.” Judge Peterson called Liddle’s crimes “monstrous,” because he ruthlessly manipulated and stole from people that he knew well.  

The charges against Liddle were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Corey and Meredith Duchemin prosecuted this case.