Federal officials on Wednesday sentenced a former New Canaan resident, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of wire fraud, to nearly three years in prison.
John B. Jeffrey, known as ‘Tucker’ Jeffrey, defrauded investors of more than $1.3 million, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
He faces 33 months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.
Jeffrey, now of Denver, had encouraged people to invest in what he described as two cargo shipping companies based in the Marshall Islands with “long-term contracts that would support a profitable international shipping business,” the press release said.
The companies were “entirely fictitious,” it said.
“Instead of using invested funds as he had promised, 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 in April 2013.
He “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” as part of the scheme, according to the DOJ.
“He also e-mailed 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.”
U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport ordered Jeffrey to pay $919,500 in restitution to his victims, according to the federal agency.
He had paid back certain victims after discovering an FBI investigation was underway, but required those victims to sign “settlement” agreements purporting to settle claims related to the fictitious companies, the justice department said.
Announced by Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut , the matter was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines.