Investors’ $850,000|Goes to Call Girls

DENVER (CN) - A "purported money manager" in Colorado defrauded people of $5.8 million and gave $850,000 of it to three Las Vegas prostitutes, the SEC said Thursday.

Geoffrey H. Lunn of Sheridan, Colo., operated the $5.77 million investment scheme with assistance from Darlene A. Bishop of Odessa, Texas, and Vincent G. Curry of Las Vegas," the SEC said in a statement announcing its federal lawsuit against the three.

Lunn claimed to be vice president of Dresdner Financial, which he claimed had connections to Dresdner Bank and was planning to buy other banks, the SEC said.

Lunn, Bishop, and Curry bilked investors nationwide and overseas by touting their ".44 Magnum Leveraged Financing Program," which they promised could turn an investment of $44,000 into $2 million within 12 banking days, the SEC said.

But Dresdner Financial was not a real company and Lunn turned the investors' money into cash and Western Union transfers, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bishop and Curry, and gave nearly $850,000 to three Las Vegas call girls, the SEC said.

Lunn admitted in sworn testimony during the SEC investigation that, "It was a con, basically," the SEC said, citing its federal complaint.

According to the SEC statement: "In October 2010, Lunn began making payments to three women he met in Las Vegas whom he described as 'call girls.' Lunn testified that he gave at least $848,500 to the three women so that they could have 'a better type of life.' In November 2010, Lunn used investor money to make a $1 million Ponzi-like payment to a favored investor who he thought 'was a deserving person.' Lunn paid $1.3 million to marketers of the scheme, including more than $650,000 to Bishop and Curry. Lunn used the remaining investor funds to pay for his personal and business expenses."

The SEC seeks disgorgement, fines and injunctions.

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