Securities Lawyers Gone Wild – Charles Blackwelder Indicted
Charles Blackwelder, an Indiana lawyer and his daughter have been charged in connection with a $23 million Ponzi scheme that was allegedly targeting senior citizens. Blackwelder and his daughter, Cara Grumme, were charged with twenty felonies, including nine counts of securities fraud and four counts of securities fraud on a victim over the age of 60. Each of the felonies carries a minimum sentence of four years. The most amazing aspect of the scheme is that it continued for more than a decade and cost investors more than $23 million.
Blackwelder is being held on $500,000 bond.
According to the charges, Blackwelder operated CFS LLC (“CFS”) in Indiana, as an unregistered company. CFS offered investors an opportunity to purchase “real estate investment opportunities”. CFS raised more than $23 million over a period of ten years from hundreds of investors. A large number of the investors were senior citizens.
According to the charges, CFS was a Ponzi scheme, using new investor funds to pay returns to earlier CFS investors. Investors were told that they were purchasing undivided interests in properties, but according to the the allegations, the real estate was either previously sold or subject to foreclosure proceedings. Blackwelder and Grumme are also accused of using several of the properties for their own use.
The Indiana Secretary of State Securities Division filed an enforcement action last year against Blackwelder, his son Chad Blackwelder, and Grumme related to their involvement with CFS. “$23 million is what documents are saying,” said Amy Miller, spokesperson for the Indiana Secretary of State.
Blackwelder is being held on $500,000 bond.
For further information about this securities law blog post, please contact Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney at 101 Plaza Real S, Suite 202 N, Boca Raton, Florida, (561) 416-8956, by email at [email protected] or visit www.securitieslawyer101.com. This securities law blog post is provided as a general informational service to clients and friends of Hamilton & Associates Law Group and should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal and compliance advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship. Please note that the prior results discussed herein do not guarantee similar outcomes.
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