Alpha Influence Ringleader Admits to Defrauding Investors of Over $20M

Press Release

Alpha investment scheme defrauded more than 500 victims in Utah and elsewhere

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A Utah businessman pleaded guilty today to securities fraud and money laundering after admitting he lied to investors and fraudulently sold investment contracts, which are securities, through his company Alpha Influence, LLC for "Alpha Automated Stores."

Jeremiah Joseph Evans "The Bull," 29, of Utah County, was charged by felony information on January 21, 2025.

According to court documents and admissions made at the change of plea hearing, from July 2019 to July 2022, Evans fraudulently sold investments in e-commerce stores through Alpha Influence, LLC., a registered Utah corporation. As part of the scheme to defraud, Evans promised investors to secure money in exchange for the Alpha investments. Evans fraudulently obtained approximately $20,894,674 from approximately 530 investors. As alleged in court documents, Evans lied to investors about how successful his company was and how long it was in operation. Evans sold the e-commerce stores to purchasers as a passive investment and promised that the stores would make consistent, predictable, monthly returns despite knowing this was false. He failed to disclose that the majority of the invested funds went directly to Alpha Influence, LLC, and were primarily distributed as commissions to those selling the fraudulent investment and himself, with only a small portion sent to the servicer of the investors' stores.

Evans is scheduled to be sentenced April 3, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. before a U.S. District Court Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

U.S. Attorney, Trina A. Higgins, of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated jointly by the Utah Division of Securities and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Woolf, Brian Williams, and Jennifer E. Gully of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah are prosecuting the case.

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Updated January 23, 2025