Printing Broker Charged in Ponzi Scheme
Owner of Minnesota Print Services owes investors $53 million and is charged with 36 counts of securities fraud.
Lisa Cross, Senior Editor -- Graphic Arts Online, November 6, 2009
The owner of printing brokerage Minnesota Print Services, Andover, MN, was charged with 36 counts of securities fraud for a Ponzi scheme where investors backed phony printing contracts. Gerard Frank Cellette Jr. owes investors $53 million and admitted in a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Hennepin County Disctric Court that from between 2005 and September 2009 he engaged in fraudulent conduct here he solicited investments for fictitious printing contracts. During this period, he obtained investors from Minnesota, California, Georgia and Illinois, promising returns of 10% to 12% within 60 to 90 days. Those investors that did earn the promised return were paid from funds received by new investors.
According to the complaint, the scheme started shortly after Cellette began seeking investors for "additional capital for the continuation of his business." Later, Cellette began to supplement his business by selling interests in fictitious contracts. According to the complaint, he engaged Steve Quarles, a California resident and the brother of a previous investor, to market the investment,
Since September 2006, Cellette provided Quarles with monthly lists of contracts that needed funding, according to the complaint. Up to 30 contracts requiring almost $8,000 were listed in single month,
Quarles then sent Cellette names of investors who would put up money and Cellette would put together a deal sheet, listing the details of the job and the terms of the returns.
The Hennepin County Attorney's office says Cellette is cooperating with authorities in the investigation; in exchange for his cooperation, the amount of money recovered and assistance in identifying other key players, Cellette's sentence could be less than ten years.
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Another guy involved it the printing industry that should have followed his dream to have been a rocket surgeon.
Tastes LikeaPenny - 2009-8-11 15:01:10 EST
