SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. -- According to the FBI, three managing partners in Scotts Valley have been charged with defrauding investors up to $60 million. A federal grand jury in San Jose indicted John Geringer and Christopher Luck of Scotts Valley and Keith Rode of Franklin, Wisconsin on Wednesday. United States Attorney Melinda Haag said they were charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
The indictment said all three men are allegedly partners to company called Geringer, Luck and Rode LLC (GLR). The FBI said they managed an investment fund that was called GLR Growth Fund, which recruited people to invest in the company. The indictment said the partners told investors the fund would invest in a variety of assets like publicly traded equities and private company investments. According to the indictment in 2009 the partners moved investor funds into two private companies.
The indictment says between 2006 and 2009 Geringer misrepresented his investments to investors and partners. It also said when Luck and Rode found out about Geringer's misrepresentations they continued to recruit new investors for their company. The indictment said GLR got more than $60 million from investors and took half of that money for themselves and the rest to private companies they invested in.
Geringer, Luck, and Rode are scheduled to be in federal court on January 17, 2013 in San Jose. The maximum penalty for each counts is up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $5 million.
More information can be found here: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
