Michigan Con Man Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison for Embezzling $577,326 from Louisville and Michigan Investors
Ordered to Pay $312,732.47 in Restitution

LOUISVILLE—A Michigan con man was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 57 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $317,732.47 in restitution by Judge Jennifer B. Coffman yesterday, following his conviction on two counts of wire fraud announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. On July 10, 2012, a federal jury in Louisville, deliberated 20 minutes before convicting David J. Broecker, age 54, of Orion Township, Michigan, of embezzling more than $300,000 from two Louisville-area investors. Since Broecker’s conviction, a third investor from Louisville has been identified. That investor was defrauded of $264,594.

The charges presented at trial, stem from Broecker’s solicitation of approximately $94,000 from a Louisville investor between March 2003 and April 2010, and $229,155 from another Louisville investor from September 2005 through February 2010. During the two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Coffman, the United States proved that Broecker falsely represented that the victims’ money would be invested in business ventures when, in fact, Broecker used the money for his personal benefit and gain. Broecker convinced the two investors that he was manufacturing automobile parts and pharmaceutical equipment in Michigan and that with a modest down payment the investors would make “a lot of money.” Broecker mislead the two victims for nearly seven years by falsely telling them that there were problems with the manufacturing process. Broecker even told one of the victims that his parents were investing in his manufacturing business. Broecker’s father testified that this was not true and that he had never invested with his son. In addition, evidence was presented that Broecker lost over $200,000 gambling at casinos in the Michigan area during the period that he was defrauding the investors. During the course of the scheme, Broecker used interstate wire communications to obtain money deposited in a National City Bank account in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition, evidence was presented at sentencing that Broecker solicited $264,000 from another Michigan investor. This fraud was not charged federally because it did not involve any interstate wires.

Broecker remains in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections after pleading no contest to larceny in Michigan State Court on March 23, 2010. He was sentenced to a maximum 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $356,000. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Broecker was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2002 for embezzlement and false pretenses over $20,000; to six years in prison in March 1999 for embezzlement; to eight years in prison in March 1999 for embezzlement; and to three years in prison in March 1999 for embezzlement.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Bryan Calhoun and Jason Snyder and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.