Securities Fraud and Wire Fraud—Michael J. Wing

A Tyler, Texas lawyer has been indicted and arrested on alleged securities and wire fraud violations.^[1] According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, Michael J. Wing “lured potential investors by representing that their money would be used to purchase short-term securities from Fortune 500 companies.”^[2] He allegedly did this by representing himself as “an international mergers and acquisition lawyer who had be been retained by a Fortune 500 company, that the company was in the final stages of closing a major merger or acquisition, and that the company needed short-term financing to complete the acquisition.”^[3]

According to the 18-count indictment, there were eight different investments that were made by five different individuals, and the alleged illegal activity is that Mr. “Wing’s representations were false and misleading, that [he] did not represent these corporations in these transactions and that [he] spent the investors’ monies on personal expenses and on payments to prior investors.”^[4]

The indictment was returned on April 4, but it was sealed until yesterday’s arraignment.^[5] Mr. Wing has been ordered to be detained until his detention hearing, which is scheduled for April 17 at 1:30 p.m.^[6] Mr. Wing has also been sued by some of the investors in the Ponzi scheme, in part because he allegedly guaranteed “a transaction fee ranging from 50 to 100 percent of the amount loaned, repayment of principal, [and] interest.”^[7]

We previously discussed Ponzi schemes in mid-November.

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[1] US Attorney’s Office, Tyler Lawyer Arrested in Securities Fraud Case, Apr. 10, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Casey Knaupp, Attorney Enters Not Guilty Plea to Wire Fraud, Apr. 10, 2006.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.