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In the following To view links in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. Your post count is 0 momentarily. Arizona Attorney General To view links in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. Your post count is 0 momentarily. today announced the indictment of two Arizonans alleged to have perpetrated sophisticated, multi-million dollar investment fraud schemes.

“Unfortunately, investment fraud is not confined to Wall Street,” Goddard said. “Whether you have $100 or $100,000 to invest, Arizona consumers looking for legitimate financial investments in these difficult economic times deserve to be protected. I will prosecute those who seek to defraud Arizonans with the full strength of my Office.”

[Ed. one of the cases involves Condo conversion scam allegations, the other can be seen in the press release]

Charles Bruce Ferguson, 40, of Scottsdale, was indicted for allegedly operating elaborate investment schemes that defrauded at least 42 people of more than $3 million since 2005. The felony charges against Ferguson include three counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, two counts of money laundering, 10 counts of forgery, one count of aggravated taking identity of another person, two counts of taking the identity of another person, one count of sale of unregistered securities, one count of transactions by unregistered dealers and salesmen, one count of securities fraud and 38 counts of theft.

In 2005 and 2006, Ferguson allegedly solicited seven individuals to invest amounts ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 each in a project to purchase a Mesa apartment complex and convert it into condominium units which would then be sold. Ferguson allegedly raised only $165,000, a small fraction of the total money required to purchase the apartment complex. About $100,000 of that amount was expended on fees and other costs associated with holding the monies in escrow.

Court documents allege that Ferguson did not disclose to investors that such a loss was possible. Documents also allege that, at the time the project fell through, Ferguson made numerous verbal and written misrepresentations to investors to cover up these losses. To date, the victims have received no return on their investments.

Ferguson also allegedly perpetrated a second elaborate scam from 2006-2008. According to investigators, he solicited investments to purchase a multi-million dollar bank instrument, such as a certificate of deposit or line of credit. Investors were allegedly instructed to wire money under an agreement that the funds would be held in an account until the investment paid out over the course of several months.

Ferguson, however, is alleged to have altered investment agreements without investors’ consent to allow him immediate access to the funds. When the time came for the investment to begin paying out, Ferguson again allegedly covered up the true reasons for failing to provide returns to investors as promised.
Numerous victims invested money in this supposed high-yield investment program after learning about the investment opportunity over CraigsList. It is alleged that they were promised returns of up to $800 million over a short period of time. In some cases, Ferguson also allegedly promised that the investments would be used to fund global humanitarian efforts that paid a high rate of return.
Ferguson, who is not licensed to sell securities, allegedly used the victims’ funds to purchase a Scottsdale condominium, luxury car, over $150,000 in high-end jewelry, at least $30,000 in tickets for luxury seats at local sporting events and $30,000 on private jet rental fees.

Assistant Attorney General Andrei Cherny is prosecuting this case in Maricopa County Superior Court. Ferguson is currently in custody.


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