|
June 8, 2004
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Robert E. Vener and Dynacorp Financial Strategies, Inc. pled guilty today to a superseding information alleging one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and one count of engaging in monetary transaction with proceeds obtained by mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957.
Mr. Vener, age 57 of Napa County, California, and Dynacorp Financial Strategies, Inc. were indicted by a federal Grand Jury on September 11, 2003. They were originally charged with eight counts of wire fraud in violation 18 U.S.C. § 1343; 14 counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341; and 10 counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i). Mr. Vener pled guilty to the two-count superseding information pursuant to a plea agreement. Dynacorp Financial Strategies, Inc. pled guilty to the two-count superseding information without a plea agreement. Mr. Vener is the Chief Executive Officer of Dynacorp Financial Strategies, Inc.
According to the superseding information, the defendants promoted an investment described as advanced funding involving the purchase of healthcare providers'accounts receivables. Healthcare providers included, for example, hospitals, doctors, medical groups, health maintenance organizations, and rehabilitation centers. Investors contributed money in exchange for promissory notes to fund the receivable purchases. Defendants marketed the investment through intermediaries known as wholesalers to securities brokers in various states.
In pleading guilty on behalf of himself and Dynacorp Financial Strategies, Inc., Mr. Vener stated that he was responsible for a loss to DFS Trust investors in the approximate amount of $31 million. He admitted that from on or about June 23, 1998 through June 23, 2000, he made and caused to be made false representations to wholesalers, broker/dealers and prospective investors regarding the DFS Trust investments to persuade investors to invest. The false representations included false representations about the kind of accounts receivables to be purchased with investor funds. For example, Mr. Vener knowingly made the false representation that the DFS Trusts would purchase receivables of healthcare providers which would be aged less than either 90 or 180 days from the billing date. On March 30, 2000, he caused the mailing of $419,000 from two investors for investment in a DFS Trust. The defendant admitted that on April 3, 2000, he withdrew $250,000 of the two investor's funds from the DFS Trust account with Bank of America for the purpose of funding two note redemption requests from other investors.
The sentencing of Mr. Vener is scheduled for September 15, 2004 before Judge Fern M. Smith in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the amount of the gross gain or gross loss, whichever is greatest, plus restitution to be determined by the court. The maximum statutory penalty for the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 is 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater, plus restitution to be determined by the court. In addition, defendant Dynacorp Financial Strategies is subject to the same alternative fines as set forth above, except that the alternative fine is $500,000 rather than $250,000. However, the actual sentence is to be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed in the discretion of the Court.
The prosecution is the result of a lengthy investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. Lawrence J. Leigh and Christina Hua are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Ana Guerra and Nancy Dick.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.
|
|
