An Indiana licensed insurance broker was charged by a federal grand jury with six counts of wire fraud for a $4 million investment fraud and Ponzi scheme and has been released from custody under his own recognizance.
Brian Simms, 44, of Lebanon, was arrested Sept. 21 and made his first appearance in federal court in Indianapolis before U.S. Magistrate Tim Baker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, a news release said. Simms faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each count if convicted.
“Investment frauds and Ponzi schemes deprive victims of their hard-earned savings and financial security,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers said in the release. “The charges and ongoing investigation in this case demonstrate that our office and our federal and state law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to ensure that those who abuse positions of trust to satisfy their own greed will face the consequences. I encourage investors and any other members of the public who may have additional relevant information about the allegations against Brian Simms and Brendanwood Financial Brokerage to come forward to the FBI.”
Simms, owner of Brendanwood Financial Brokerage LLC, began inducing clients to reinvest funds with him that they cashed out or liquidated from traditional and long-term insurance products and investments in 2013 . He is not licensed to sell securities or registered to give financial advice, according to the release.
Simms allegedly misappropriated approximately $3,995,535 from those who invested with him by using the funds for business and personal expenses instead of investing the funds in investment products as promised, the release reported.
“Simms also misappropriated victim investors’ money to make limited, Ponzi-type payments to other victim investors,” the release said. “Simms mislead the victim investors to believe that payments he made to them represented returns on proper investments, when they were in fact funds misappropriated from other victim investors.”
Robert Middleton, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Indianapolis field office, said Simms’ indictment “should serve as a reminder of the FBI’s commitment to aggressively investigate those who utilize their positions of trust to commit financial fraud," the release reported.
“We will continue to work with our partners to protect the financial well-being of honest, hard-working Americans,” Middleton said in the release.
