A Tampa man was charged with wire fraud for masterminding an investment fraud scam while on supervised release Thursday.
Anthony J. Klatch, II, 35, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
According to court documents, in or around 2011, Klatch pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in the Southern District of Alabama.
After his release from federal prison in December 2014, Klatch began serving a term of supervised release in Tampa.
While on supervised release, Klatch directed the establishment of and controlled a company called Assurance Capital Management, LLC (“ACM”) and maintained a bank account at Chase Bank opened in the name of ACM.
Between June and September 2015, he used ACM to represent to investors and potential investors that ACM was a company with over $18 million in client assets under management and that ACM and those working for ACM engaged in profitable online stock trading on behalf of its investors.
But in reality, ACM was a shell company used by Klatch to induce and defraud investors.
During his scheme, Klatch would often disguise his true identity and tell investors that his name was “Larry Heim,” ACM’s fund manager. He provided investors and potential investors false and fraudulent financial statements and other investment materials.
In reality, ACM had few if any funds “under management,” and the funds ACM did have were either lost by Klatch during trading or used by him for personal expenditures.
Klatch obtained funds from investors by directing them to wire funds to the ACM account at Chase Bank so those funds could be invested and/or traded.
Klatch also directed investors to provide him with the access information for their online trading accounts, such as user name and password, so that he, often posing as “Larry Heim,” could trade those accounts on behalf of the investors.
At no time during the scheme did Klatch tell his investors and potential investors that he had prior federal criminal convictions for conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, or that he was banned by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities Exchange Commission from trading in these markets.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance from the CFTC. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy Riedel.
