140 Victims Lost Millions In Investment Using Nanotech to Turn Dirt Into Gold

Marc Andrew Tager, 55, sentenced on April 14, 2021, to 43 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Jonathon Edward Shoucair, 69 sentenced on October 23, 2020, to 72 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and money laundering.

Matthew Earl Mangum, 51, sentenced on November 18, 2020, to 48 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Kenneth Stephen Gross, 75, sentenced on January 16, 2020, to 24 months of probation for failing to disclose to federal authorities that he had knowledge that securities fraud was occurring.

Tager, Shoucair, and Mangum posed as the leaders of the scheme and told victim-investors they had created a plan to make money by extracting gold from dirt using a revolutionary process developed by Mangum--who was held out to investors as an expert in metallurgy and the refining of precious metals. Investors were told that the defendants controlled this proprietary, breakthrough, nanotechnology that used environmentally friendly means to recover microscopic particles of gold from dirt. Gross was engaged in cold-calling potential investors and passing interested individuals on to Tager and Shoucair in order to obtain funds from these investors.

Investors were told that the group needed investors' money to pay for the space, equipment, materials, and labor to develop Mangum's process into a large scale, highly profitable business that would generate huge returns. Instead, the co-defendants operated an advanced fee scheme with Tager, Shoucair, and Mangum making fraudulent statements to investors to secure funding that was only partially used to support the business, which was never profitable.

In order to carry out the fraud, the three defendants formed Jersey Consulting, LLC ("Jersey") and created a marketing website for their business. On the website, the defendants claimed that Jersey owned an 80 acre mining claim with a substantial amount of mineral rich ore; that their revolutionary mining technology could achieve 20 times the yield of traditional mining at a fraction of the cost; that their process was environmentally friendly; and that investors would achieve 100% percent returns on their money in 12 months. Investors were also told that their money would be secured by the physical assets owned by Jersey and that the investors would have priority over these assets should the business fail.

What investors did not know was that Tager and Shoucair first met while serving multi-year federal prison sentences together for previous fraud related convictions. Tager, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in 2005 and sentenced to approximately 2 years in prison, met Jon Shoucair, who was serving a 5-year prison sentence in the Sheridan Federal Correction Institution for running a $50 million telemarketing fraud.

Since 2014, the men raised over eight million from about 140 investors through the use of a national telemarketing strategy. The majority of the investors were over the age of 65. However, three million dollars of investors' money was spent for the personal benefit of Tager, Mangum, and Shoucair, with another two million dollars of the funds going to pay telemarketers, including Gross, who helped raise the funds. It is estimated that only three million dollars of the investors' funds were used to pay for potentially legitimate business expenses incurred by Jersey.

29. In furtherance of the conspiracy, the Defendants failed to disclose to investors the following material facts, among others: 

(a) Defendant TAGER is a convicted felon. On or about September 1, 2005, defendant TAGER pleaded guilty in federal court to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. See U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas), case number 3:04-CR-028-K (01). Moreover, a federal district court judge entered a restitution judgment against defendant TAGER in the amount of $1,131,019.00. As of late 2017, the outstanding balance of that restitution order was $949,899.39; 

(b) Defendant VITOLO is a convicted felon. On or about January 27, 2006, defendant VITOLO pleaded guilty in federal court to Conspiracy to Deal in Counterfeit Currency in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. See U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, case number 1 :06-cr-00003-CBA; 

(c) Defendant SHOUCAIR is a convicted felon. On or about July 16, 2003, defendant SHOUCAIR pleaded guilty in federal court to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Mail Fraud, Securities Fraud & Conspiracy to Defraud Agencies of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; Wire Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343; Mail Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). See U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, case number 3:01-CR-01415. Moreover, a federal district court judge entered a restitution judgment against defendant SHOUCAIR in the amount of $49,050,378.00. Additionally, on or about July 16, 2003, defendant SHOUCAIR pleaded guilty in federal court to Evasion of Individual Income Taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. See District Court, Southern District of California, case number 3:03-CR-1950-BTM; 

(d) Defendant GROSS was sued by the United States Securities Exchange Commission ("SEC") in 2014 for, inter alia, selling unregistered securities. On or about March 17, 2014, a final judgment was entered by consent against defendant GROSS, permanently enjoining him from future violations of Sections 5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act. See SEC v. Robert Hurd, et al., Civil Action Number 2:13-CV-04464-RGK-JCG, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California; . . .

• Nanotech
• Dirt
• Gold
• Fraud
• Due Diligence
• BrokeAndBroker
• Bill Singer