David Kaup, 29, San Gabriel, CA, seems to have been a pretty busy young man.  At times, he wasn't even David Kaup but "David Smith" or "David Martinez."  In fact, Kaup also went by the moniker of "New Age Dave" in his gig as a disc jockey in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas and has used the moniker "New Age Dave." A young guy with so many aliases should have raised a lot of questions.

For starters, Kaup operated several companies, including the Los Angeles based Lunden Investments, American Loans and Funding ("ALF"), and First Mortgage West ("FMW"). If you were solicited by Kaup to invest in Lunden Investments,you were likely told that your funds would be used for commercial lending.  Alas, $9 million of the funds supposedly earmarked for loans wound up squandered by Kaup in poor trades on the Foreign Currency Exchange Market ("FCEM").

FBI Issues Android Smartphone Malware WarningBill SingerContributor

Computerized Casino Card Cheats Go Bust In FBI Slug-festBill SingerContributor

The Sting Meets Reservoir Dogs In Epic FBI High Yield Investment Fraud CaseBill SingerContributor

Agroterrorism Hits Home As FBI Protects What We Eat And DrinkBill SingerContributor

After burning through those bucks, Kaup ran another scam through ALF that targeted homeowners into paying to refinance their homes at below-market rates.  Of course, there was a catch: The homeowners had to fork over upfront payments to demonstrate their financially qualification for special loan terms. As you likely guessed, those payments never quite made it into the safekeeping escrow account subject to the loan approval process; to the contrary, Kaup simply converted the payments to buy himself luxury items and make more lousy trades on the FCEM.

Having burned through his Lunden and ALF investors, Kaup tried for three lights on the same match - never a good idea.  This last time, he handled the old homeowner refi scam through FMW.

On April 9, 2012, Kaup pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud and was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles on December 17, 2012. In fessing up to his crimes, Kaup admitted to having victimized some 50 families over five years to the tune of over $11 million.

Of course, comes Monday the 17^th, go figure, 29-year-old Dave pulls a no-show.  The FBI is now looking for him. You can see a photo of Dave's smiling visage on the FBI press release.  Sure, he seems like a nice enough guy but don't trust him, okay?

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Kaup is urged to call the FBI at 1-888-CANT-HIDE (1-888-226-8443).