8 Financial Managers Indicted in $72M Scheme

What You Need to Know

The defendants, based in Toledo, Ohio, scammed at least 200 clients, according to prosecutors.
One of the defendants is a barred broker and former RIA.

Eight managers of a Lucas County, Ohio investment firm were indicted on multiple felonies for their roles in a decade-long scheme, cheating at least 200 clients out of $72 million, according to an indictment filed in the county’s Court of Common Pleas in Toledo; Dave Yost, Ohio attorney general; and Sherry Maxfield, Ohio Department of Commerce director.

One of the managers, Gary Rathbun, was a broker barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on May 17, 2016, according to his report at the regulator’s BrokerCheck website. He is also a former registered investment advisor.

Rathbun was permitted to resign from Triad Advisors while under internal review for violating the firm’s policy on private securities transactions, according to another disclosure on his report. Royal Alliance Associates was among the other four firms for which he worked as a broker in his 27-year career.

Both of those firms are part of Advisor Group, which declined to comment Wednesday.

In the indictment filed last week, Rathbun was charged with 37 felonies. The other seven managers charged were: James DelVerne (93 felonies), Doug Miller (39 felonies), Colleen Hall (10), Nancy Rathbun (7), Adam Solon (7), John Walters (6) and Brad Konerman (5).

The felony charges included engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, unlawful securities practices, telecommunications fraud, aggravated theft, perjury, money laundering and several other financial charges, Yost and Maxfield said in a press release on Tuesday.

Seven defendants were arrested Tuesday and the eighth was “in the process of turning himself in,” according to Yost and Maxfield. The indictment was unsealed following the arrests.