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A Tampa resident has been charged with wire fraud for misleading investors into providing capital for a shell company he established while on supervised release following a prison term for conspiracy, securities and wire fraud and money laundering in Alabama.
Anthony J. Klatch II faces 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the single criminal count.
Klatch, 35, settled in Tampa in late 2014, after pleading guilty and serving a sentence on the previous charges, according to federal law enforcement officials.
While there and on supervised release, he established Assurance Capital Management LLC and maintained an account in the company's name at Chase Bank.
Beginning in June 2015 and for the next three months, Klatch told potential investors that Assurance Capital managed more than $18 million in clients' assets and that it was a successful online stock trading firm.
Authorities say, however, that Assurance Capital was a “shell company” to “induce and defraud investors” and that Klatch often used an alias, “Larry Heim,” to pose as a fund manager and disguise his true identity.
Klatch often provided potential investors with fraudulent financial statements and other investment materials indicating Assurance Capital was profitable, says U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III.
In reality, Assurance Capital had little money under management and the funds it did have were either lost during trading or used by Klatch for “personal expenditures.”
He also convinced investors to provide him with their online trading account user information and passwords, so that he could have access to those accounts.
At no time did Klatch reveal his prior criminal conviction, or that he had been banned by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission for his past dealings.
The case was investigated by the FBI and CFTC. It will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mandy Riedel.
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