Daniel Chartraw Sentenced in Multi-Million-Dollar Investment Fraud Scheme

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. sentenced Daniel Chartraw, 40, formerly of El Dorado County, today to four years and nine months in prison and ordered him to pay $2.8 million in restitution, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Chartraw pleaded guilty to wire fraud on January 24, 2013. Many victims submitted letters discussing the impact of Chartraw’s fraud on their finances and their families. Judge England, in sentencing the defendant, referred to these letters and stated that “these are very traumatic crimes” and that the “problem is not only loss of money but also loss of trust.”

According to court documents, between January 1, 2007 and November 31, 2011, Chartraw defrauded many investors through false representations regarding a variety of investments, including investments in mines, mining and refinery equipment, oil commodities, precious metals concentrate, and multi-million-dollar certificates of deposit. In one instance, Chartraw stole $1 million by fraudulently posing as an owner and manager of a company selling “dore” bars, which Chartraw claimed contained precious metals. Chartraw arranged for an investor to tour the company and managed to limit the investor’s interaction with the company’s true owners and prevent discovery of the scheme. When the investor placed $1 million into an escrow account for the purchase of the dore bars, Chartraw used a forged letter to get the escrow company to send the money to accounts he and others controlled.

This case was the product of an investigation by the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Anderson prosecuted the case and Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Khasigian prosecuted the forfeiture of Chartraw’s assets.