Investment advisor pleads guilty to investment fraud

U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced a 59-year-old known by four different names pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud.

Pursuant to a written plea agreement filed with the court, Rick Guyon, also known as Richard Guyon, also known as Rick Garrison, also known as Mark Thomas pleaded guilty to count five of the indictment.

According to the plea agreement, from 2015 through 2017, Guyon devised a scheme to defraud individual investors.

The scheme involved soliciting $1,956,400 from investors based on false and fraudulent representations about the defendant’s education, employment history, and financial condition, and false and fraudulent representations that the money would be invested in financial markets and that the defendant would not collect any commissions on the investments.

Once he obtained the money, he spent it on personal expenses.

To cover up what he had done, Guyon provided investors with false and fraudulent monthly account statements showing positive returns on investments.

According to the plea agreement, Guyon’s scheme to defraud investors (i) resulted in an actual loss of between $1,500,000 and $3,500,000; (ii) resulted in a substantial financial hardship to an investor-victim who personally lost approximately $1,281,783; and (iii) involved the defendant acting as an organizer and leader of at least three other participants in the scheme.

Sentencing for Guyon is set for October 9, 2018, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

You can view our previous story HERE.