Stephen J. Klos, 86, recently pleaded guilty to securities fraud for an alleged Ponzi scheme that took in more than $3 million from investors in the Seattle area. According to prosecutors in the case, Klos targeted members of his church and elderly investors in the alleged scam. Klos was charged with 28 counts of securities fraud last year, and he faces up to 68 months in prison if he is convicted.
According to King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, “The defendant used his charm and influence to persuade elderly victims to invest with him, but instead used the money for his personal benefit and lifestyle.”
Klos has been accused of luring elderly investors from the church into the investment scheme with promises to invest the cash for them and bring in good returns. Unfortunately, prosecutors believe that he was instead using the cash to pay off prior investors in a classic Ponzi-scheme fashion and that he kept some of the cash for himself.
A former pastor from Mercer Island Covenant Church, the church where Klos allegedly recruited many of the victims in the scam, said that he took concerns about Klos to the police back in 2008 and that Klos was eventually asked to leave the church after repeated requests to stop soliciting the congregation.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of a Ponzi scheme or investment scam, don’t wait until it’s too late to recover your investment losses. Speak with the experienced securities fraud lawyers with Meyer Wilson in a FREE, no-obligation legal consultation to discuss your rights and options today.
