By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A former FBI special agent and his wife have been charged in Richmond, Va. federal court in a $1.3 million investment fraud scheme, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Ex-agent John Robert Graves, 52, and Sara Turberville Graves, 44, both of Fredericksburg, Va., are charged with multiple counts.
Authorities said that Graves founded Brook Point Management (BPM) in 2003, a company that sold insurance, performed estate and tax planning services and recruited and advised investment clients.
The indictment alleges that between June 2008 and July 2011, John Graves, Sara Graves, and others schemed to defraud approximately 11 investors in central Virginia of approximately $1.3 million.
Authorities alleged that the couple raised investor funds by misrepresenting “the safety and security of the investments, as well as misrepresentations and omissions regarding their use of investor money.”
Authorities alleged that the two used the investor funds to pay back previous investors who requested access to their money; purchase real estate in Partlow, Va.; and pay personal expenses, including credit card bills and time share dues. Authorities alleged that even after the scheme was uncovered, John Graves continued to make misrepresentations through false and misleading statements to the investors and to investigators from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
