Belgrade man admits to defrauding investors who believed he had millions of dollars in barrels of go
goingbroke
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BELGRADE - A 66-year-old Belgrade man has pleaded guilty in federal court to wire and mail fraud after reportedly securing investors who believed he had millions of dollars worth of gold ore and had operated the mining division for the Howard Hughes Corporation.
Carl Lawrence Estep is accused of being involved a "far-reaching, multi-state investment fraud scheme" after moving from Las Vegas to the Bozeman area in April 2003.
"The scheme defrauded numerous investors out of significant amounts of money by promising them large returns from overseas investments that were allegedly realized by leveraging ‘gold ore' as collateral for overseas trading," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a news release. He also reportedly told potential investors that he owned a gold refinery in Montana and was trying to build others that could refine the gold. Officials say he claimed to use the gold barrels as collateral for a unique overseas investment that would make huge profits and told investors that the money never left the accounts because the "gold" was being leveraged.
Those who invested their money with Estep never saw it again, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The news release states that he used the money to purchase cars, travel overseas and other things, including large expenses on his hunting dogs.
One Florida-based victim was defrauded out of $220,000 in 2008 and 2009. Another person from Texas mailed a $100,000 investment to Estep in 2008. Both of those people reportedly met Estep over the Internet on a church-related dating website.
When FBI agents searched a Belgrade barn they reportedly found that the 200 barrels of rock and sand had no gold value and that "it would be more profitable to use the rock and sand as road grade rather than attempt to extract any gold."
Estep reportedly told FBI agents that he spend investor money on personal items and spent money inappropriately, but he also told them that "Count Ugo Di Carpegna from Geneva, Switzerland, will be sending him millions of dollars very soon and he will pay investors back," according to the news release, which adds that this has never happened.
Estep faces 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release.
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Carl Lawrence Estep is accused of being involved a "far-reaching, multi-state investment fraud scheme" after moving from Las Vegas to the Bozeman area in April 2003.
"The scheme defrauded numerous investors out of significant amounts of money by promising them large returns from overseas investments that were allegedly realized by leveraging ‘gold ore' as collateral for overseas trading," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a news release. He also reportedly told potential investors that he owned a gold refinery in Montana and was trying to build others that could refine the gold. Officials say he claimed to use the gold barrels as collateral for a unique overseas investment that would make huge profits and told investors that the money never left the accounts because the "gold" was being leveraged.
Those who invested their money with Estep never saw it again, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The news release states that he used the money to purchase cars, travel overseas and other things, including large expenses on his hunting dogs.
One Florida-based victim was defrauded out of $220,000 in 2008 and 2009. Another person from Texas mailed a $100,000 investment to Estep in 2008. Both of those people reportedly met Estep over the Internet on a church-related dating website.
When FBI agents searched a Belgrade barn they reportedly found that the 200 barrels of rock and sand had no gold value and that "it would be more profitable to use the rock and sand as road grade rather than attempt to extract any gold."
Estep reportedly told FBI agents that he spend investor money on personal items and spent money inappropriately, but he also told them that "Count Ugo Di Carpegna from Geneva, Switzerland, will be sending him millions of dollars very soon and he will pay investors back," according to the news release, which adds that this has never happened.
Estep faces 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release.
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