The Securities Unit of the state Attorney General’s Office has obtained an indictment against a Michigan man for allegedly swindling a New Castle County resident out of more than a quarter-million dollars.
Patrick A. Wiley, age 43, of Detroit, Mich., was charged Tuesday, Aug. 17 with securities fraud, selling unregistered securities, theft, and racketeering, state Department of Justice spokesman Jason P. Miller said. The indictment arises out of an investment recovery scam allegedly perpetrated by Wiley against a New Castle County victim from October 2005 to November 2007.
"We are particularly disturbed by crimes that use trust and confidence as a means to an illegitimate end," Attorney General Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III said. “The victim in this case has lost over $300,000 in a con game. With deep sympathies for her loss, we remind all Delawareans that any deal that sounds too good to be true probably is."
The investment recovery scam grew out of an investment scam that the victim had fallen prey to in early 2005. At that time, Darren Dobson, a New Castle County resident, persuaded the victim to invest in a “joint trading venture” that supposedly involved several wealthy persons in London, England. Dobson claimed that a $50,000 investment would yield a return of $10 million by June 2005. The victim invested in this venture by wiring $45,000 to a company called VFG Management, LLC in Tampa, Fla., the entity through which the London partners were supposedly operating the joint trading venture.
In June 2005, when the promised investment return failed to materialize, the victim contacted others who were believed to have invested in the venture, including Wiley. Wiley claimed he had information regarding the principals involved and that he would pursue them to obtain the victim’s promised investment return. On numerous occasions between October 2005 and November 2007, Wiley solicited funds from the victim to defray the cost of his efforts, including trips that he was supposedly taking abroad for meetings with the London trading partners and their attorney. During that time period, the victim wired more than $276,000 to Wiley on 61 separate occasions. The victim never received the promised investment return or the investment principal.
The indictment announced today by the attorney general follows a New Castle County Grand Jury indictment in February of Darren Dobson, 45, of Charlotte, N.C., on charges of securities fraud, the sale of unregistered securities and the transaction of business as an unregistered agent. Trial in that case is scheduled for September.
The Attorney General’s Office, through its Securities Unit, enforces the Delaware Securities Act, which regulates the sale of investment products and the activities of investment professionals in Delaware. The unit investigates and prosecutes securities fraud and licensing violations by investment brokers and advisers.
Delaware investors are encouraged to report suspected incidents of investment crime and fraud by calling the Attorney General’s Securities Fraud Hotline at 302-577-8424.
