A former New Canaan resident on Thursday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud stemming from a scheme to defraud investors of more than $1.3 million, officials said.
John B. Jeffrey, also known as Tucker Jeffrey, 48, a former New Canaanite who now resides in Denver, had represented to victims that companies called Anchor Shipping and Trading, and Southern Cross Shipping, were Marshall Islands-based cargo shipping businesses with long-term contracts to support it, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Yet instead of investing those funds, Jeffrey “used the vast majority of the money for his personal expenses, including paying for the mortgage on his New Canaan home, tuition at private schools, country club dues, and home renovation and landscaping costs.”
Tax records show that a John B. Jeffrey in 2002 purchased a Canoe Hill Road home for $1.2 million, and sold it three years ago.
“As part of the scheme, Jeffrey created bogus documents that represented that certain well-known executives in the international shipping business were involved with the companies when, in fact, those executives had no such involvement,” the U.S. Department of Justice public information officer, Thomas Carson, said in the release. “He also emailed and telephoned his victims falsely representing that the companies were profitable, that the victims would soon be receiving distributions from their investments, and to reassure victims when payments were delayed.”
He faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $2.6 million in fines. It isn’t clear when he’ll be sentenced, officials say. The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines, in front of U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport.