North Carolina Man Who Posed as Investment Adviser Pleads Guilty in Connection With Investment Fund Theft Scheme

Baltimore, Maryland - Hunter Haithcock, 24, aka Hunter Elliott, of Matthews, North Carolina, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of investment adviser fraud in connection to the theft of at least $650,000 in funds from at least 64 investors in the District of Maryland.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - Baltimore Field Office.

According to his plea agreement, beginning in September 2019, and continuing through October 2022, Haithcock stole at least $657,138.93 from at least 64 individual investors. The victims entrusted Haithcock with their funds after he fraudulently represented himself as an investment advisor. Haithcock deceptively claimed he worked for Company #1 with a registered investment adviser (the "victim investment advisor"). Then Haithcock told the victim investors if they invested with him, he would guarantee their investment principal and provide them significant returns on their investments.

In connection with the scheme, Haithcock routinely provided investors with fabricated reports that purported to show investors' portfolio gains. But Haithcock created the fictitious documents to perpetuate and conceal his scheme. Instead of investing his clients' investment funds, Haithcock stole them. Haithcock funneled the money to accounts he controlled and used the funds for his own purposes. Specifically, he used the stolen funds to pay for credit card bills, meals, entertainment, car payments, travel expenses - including hotels and flights, and to trade cryptocurrency for his own benefit.

As described in the plea agreement, Haithcock met his victims in a variety of ways, including through a local church and by word-of-mouth referrals. Haithcock routinely represented himself as Hunter Elliott, a licensed securities broker for Company #1, who could invest their money in securities and provide them with very large, 100-200 percent or larger, returns. But Haithcock has never been employed with Company #1 or any other broker-dealer. Haithcock also never had a license to trade securities and does not know the victim investment advisor.

Additionally, Haithcock promised investors that their investment principal was protected from loss regardless of the risk of the performance of the market and the size of their initial investment. Some victims invested tens of thousands of dollars while others invested $10,000 or less. Haithcock routinely lied about the future projected performance of anticipated investments.

After victims invested funds with Haithcock, he routinely provided investors with fraudulent "Statement Reports," often on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. These reports purported to list, among other things, each investor's portfolio value and purported stock trades Haithcock made on their behalf. Eventually, when investors began to ask for the return of their funds, Haithcock fabricated reasons why he could not return their money. Haithcock then stopped returning their calls and text messages. But he did use a small portion of the client investor funds he received from other investors to pay a few of them back.

Haithcock is facing a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud offense and five years for the investment adviser fraud offense. U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox scheduled sentencing for Friday, February 6, at 10 a.m.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI for its work in the investigation and praised the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cecil County Sherriff's Office, and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland for their assistance. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Riley, LaShanta Harris, and Joseph Wenner who are prosecuting the federal case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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