Ken Grant was charged this week by federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Ohio with defrauding about 70 investors out of approximately $17 million. Grant waived his right to prosecution by indictment and consented to the prosecution by information.
Grant is being charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud and one count of money laundering. Meyer Wilson has been investigating this Ponzi scheme for the last nine (9) months and has been hired by many victims of the Ponzi scheme who have suffered millions of dollars of investment losses.
You can get more background on this case here:
According to court filings, Grant and others allegedly devised a scheme to defraud investors by telling investors that the company KGTA was seeking funds to purchase fuel and oil and that investors would earn up to 5 percent on their investments per month. At the time those representations were made, Grant allegedly knew that investors would not earn 5 percent of their investments per month, nor at any time from the sale of fuel and oil. Prosecutors allege in the criminal charges that no fuel or oil was purchased.
From around June 2010 through March 2014, Grant used new money raised from investors to make recurring monthly payments to earlier investors – the hallmark of a traditional Ponzi scheme. Personal luxury items were also bought by Grant with investor money, including a car, a boat, and mortgage payments on a high-end residential property.
The information filed also said that Grant and others, including unnamed registered representatives with PrimeSolutions Securities, never filed documentation about KGTA with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the charges make clear that Grant did not act alone, so far he is the only individual charged criminally. We expect that additional criminal charges may be filed against additional parties in the near future.
In prior Ohio Ponzi scheme cases, our law firm has recovered losses for the individual investors we represent by aggressively pursuing financial institutions that either knowingly or unwittingly participated or assisted in the fraudulent investment scheme. We are applying our extensive experience and success in this area in our current investigation into potential recovery options for the victims of the KGTA situation.
If you or someone you know lost money in the KGTA deal, please contact managing partner David P. Meyer directly for a complimentary case evaluation at (614) 224-6000 or dmeyer@meyerwilson.com.
About Meyer Wilson
The team of investment fraud attorneys at Meyer Wilson has successfully represented nearly 1,000 individual investors from across the country who have suffered financial harm at the hands of stockbrokers, brokerage firms and insurance companies. We have won verdicts, arbitration awards and settlements of hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients. The firm's main office is in Columbus, Ohio.
