Timothy M. O’Shea, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, has announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint against Stanley Pophal, 63, from Wausau, Wisconsin. Pophal is charged with wire fraud and money laundering. He was arrested on Saturday and appeared in federal court yesterday where he was detained pending further proceedings.
The complaint alleges that starting in 2019, Pophal solicited investors to purchase promissory notes with supposedly guaranteed returns. To attract investors, Pophal allegedly misrepresented himself as a wealthy businessman. From May 2019 to March 2025, it is claimed that Pophal received over $15 million from at least 120 investors.
It is further alleged that instead of investing most of the money obtained from investors, Pophal used it to fund an extravagant lifestyle which included buying more than 300 snowmobiles. Additionally, he purportedly used funds from new investors to make "lulling payments" to previous investors to give the impression of investment returns.
The charges stem from an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner is handling the prosecution.
It should be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant in a criminal complaint or indictment is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
