Tampa Investment Scheme Mastermind Sentenced To More Than Nine Years In Federal Prison
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore today sentenced Anthony J. Klatch II (36, previously of Tampa) to nine years and seven months in federal prison for wire fraud. The Court also ordered that he serve this sentence consecutive to a 39-month sentenced imposed in December 2016, in the Southern District of Florida for access device fraud and identity theft. Klatch also must pay $516,754.94 in restitution to the victims of his investment scheme.
According to court documents, in or around 2011, Klatch pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in the Southern District of Alabama. In December 2014, after his release from federal prison, he began serving a term of supervised release in Tampa.
While on supervised release, Klatch directed the establishment of and controlled a company called Assurance Capital Management, LLC (“ACM”) and maintained a bank account opened in that name. Between June 2015 and September 2015, Klatch used ACM to represent to investors and potential investors that ACM was a company with over $18 million in client assets under management and that ACM and those working for ACM engaged in profitable online stock trading on behalf of its investors. In truth, ACM was a shell company used by Klatch to induce and defraud investors.
In executing his scheme, Klatch would often disguise his true identity and tell investors that his name was “Larry Heim,” ACM’s fund manager. Klatch, often posting as “Larry Heim,” provided investors and potential investors false and fraudulent financial statements and other investment materials showing that ACM was profitable and had more than $18 million in online trading accounts and that its funds were profitably traded. In reality, ACM had few if any funds “under management,” and the funds ACM did have were either lost by Klatch during trading or used by him for personal expenditures. In total, Klatch defrauded investors out of more than $516,000.
In early 2016, while serving a nine-month sentence for violating his supervised release in the Alabama case, but before being charged in this case, Klatch absconded from a halfway house. He was rearrested approximately six months later in Miami. At the time of his arrest, he had approximately eight stolen identities in his possession that he had used to generate counterfeit credit cards to purchase such things as luxury automobiles and resort memberships.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy Riedel.
