Bay County Ponzi Scheme Update
Bay County District Judge Dawn A. Kilda, after taking some time to review arguments made by both defense and prosecuting attorneys, has decided that sufficient evidence exists for the case of Joel Wilson to go to trial. Wilson is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme in the Bay Area that cheated numerous local investors out of millions of dollars, before slipping away to Germany with his wife.
Klida’s decision was based primarily on evidence and testimonies presented at Wilson’s preliminary examination, which took place over two days in late September. Among the body of evidence presented by the defense was the testimony of David R. Charlesbois, who claimed that he had signed over large sums of money to Wilson, who was the owner and president of The Diversified Group Advisory Firm LLC.
According to Charlesbois, he met with Wilson on several occasions and was told that his investment would be “…put into buying and rehabbing homes, that I’d get a return of 8.9 percent. [He told me] that things were good for this type of investment. That there was a high demand for this and that it should be a good, solid investment.” He did not, however, discuss the risks involved in these investments, and Charlesbois made the decision to trust him.
Other testimony was provided by Joseph H. Spiegel, an attorney specializing in securities and commodities law, who appeared as an expert witness for the prosecution. He discussed the fact that Wilson’s agreements appeared to be taken from other sources, leading one to believe that he didn’t really know what he was doing.
With regard to Wilson’s business plan, Spiegel said, “In my review, it is not viable, and it was never viable. If you look at the financial analysis, there is an inability for this entity, if you want to call it an entity, to maintain the payments that were provided for in the disclosure requirements.” He went on to explain that the business model was essentially that of a Ponzi scheme.
Wilson is facing numerous felony charges. This includes three counts of fraudulent sale of securities and three counts of sale of unregistered securities, along with single counts of continuing a criminal enterprise or racketeering, larceny by conversion between $1,000 and $20,000, and larceny by conversion $20,000 or more.
District Judge Klida has formally issued her ruling that binds Wilson’s case over to the Bay County Circuit Court for trial, however, a date has not yet been set for trial.