OGDEN, Utah—A local man has been charged with scamming 15 clients out of nearly $900,000 through fraudulent investments in part by setting up meetings at local credit unions.
According to KSI.com, Dean Hamilton, 39, has been charged in 2nd District Court with 10 felonies of sales fraud that allegedly took place from Jan. 1, 2009, to May 1, 2011.
Hamilton offered insurance and private securities investments through Dee Randall's Horizon Cos., which allegedly operated as a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said Hamilton collected a percentage amount for each of his clients' investments, totaling more than $30,000 of direct compensation.
Hamilton worked for West Jordan-based Galileo Financial, but with the exception of Oct. 16, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2009, was not authorized to sell securities products, according to charges filed in the case.
Under the alleged scheme, using offices provided by Galileo, Hamilton met clients at credit unions and called himself a financial adviser, but he was never authorized by Galileo or the credit unions to sell Horizon securities, according to Utah Division of Securities analyst Charles Lyons Jr.
In one example, authorities said Hamilton met with a client in 2009 at Summit One Credit Union to discuss retirement planning that would give her more interest than the typical CD, and advised her to invest money in Horizon Auto Funding, promising her an interest return of 12%, KSI.com reported.
Overall, authorities said Horizon Cos. accumulated $72 million from 700-plus investors. According to Lyons, Hamilton continued to gain business even after Randall declared bankruptcy on Dec. 20, 2010.
After hearing of Hamilton's sales through Horizon, Galileo terminated his employment in January 2011. KSI.com reported that Hamilton said he used Galileo and the credit union offices during his sales of Horizon securities to gain the respect and trust of clients in a letter accepting his termination.