Grand Prairie attorney arrested for Ponzi scheme and obstructing SEC investigation

DALLAS - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced that a Grand Prairie attorney was arrested Aug. 31 on federal charges alleging he defrauded investors for years, used forged notary documents to mislead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, falsely placed an innocent woman he barely knew at the center of that fictional operation and pressured the woman and her husband to "take a vacation" to Mexico to prevent authorities from learning the truth.

David Thomas Gilchrist, 70, is charged by criminal complaint with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and witness tampering. He is expected to make his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge on Wednesday, Sep. 2.

"Mr. Gilchrist's alleged conduct strikes at the heart of investor trust and the integrity of our financial system," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "He didn't just defraud innocent people out of their savings, he allegedly forged documents, lied to federal regulators, and tried to intimidate witnesses to cover his tracks. We will not hesitate to pursue anyone who attempts to deceive investors or undermine federal investigations, and we remain committed to working with our great partners at the SEC to hold offenders accountable."

"Attorneys play a vital role in the SEC's investor protection mission," said SEC Inspector General Kevin Muhlendorf. "Where any individual, but especially an attorney, seeks to obstruct SEC Enforcement investigations through lies, fake documents, or witness tampering, SEC OIG will use our law enforcement authority to pursue them with our partners at the Department of Justice."

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Gilchrist entered partnerships and promissory notes with roughly twenty victims for the purpose of purchasing property tax liens in Texas counties as an investment vehicle. As alleged in the complaint, bank records show Gilchrist did not use his victims' funds to purchase tax liens but instead commingled the money with other funds, which he used to make personal expenditures and repay earlier investors-classic features of a Ponzi scheme. Investigators estimate that between April 2023 and January 2026, Gilchrist received approximately $1.45 million from investors and returned only about $789,000.

The complaint alleges that when the SEC initiated an investigation and requested documentation, Gilchrist provided a set of purported quitclaim deeds that later proved to be forgeries. The deeds allegedly contained notary stamps and signatures belonging to real Texas notaries, none of whom authorized Gilchrist to use their credentials.

According to the complaint, during sworn testimony before the SEC in April and May 2026, Gilchrist stated that he had redacted the homeowners' names on the fraudulent quitclaim deeds because "they're illegal," and claimed that he used a woman - also "illegal"-as an intermediary to identify the homeowners and deliver cash to them in Bexar County, Texas. The complaint further alleges that days before testifying before the SEC, Gilchrist appeared unannounced at the woman's home, told her husband that the FBI was looking for him and advised them to "take a vacation" for a couple of years, potentially in Mexico.

Gilchrist allegedly provided his victims with sporadic payments, misleading updates and implausible excuses such as a government shutdown, an arson investigation, and a hurricane-relief deployment, that Gilchrist allegedly used to delay repayment. In at least one instance, while claiming to be hospitalized in Tennessee after a colectomy, Gilchrist was recorded as checking into a local gym in Mansfield, Texas.

If convicted of the charges alleged in the complaint, Gilchrist faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of the wire fraud and witness tampering charges and a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence for aggravated identity theft.

In a separate case, the SEC's Chicago Regional Office has also filed a civil complaint charging Gilchrist with securities fraud.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General is investigating this matter with substantial assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Schwab and Douglas Brasher of the Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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