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Utah businessman pleads guilty to $20 million investment scam

Utah businessman pleads guilty to  million investment scam

A Utah businessman known for his “alpha male” teachings has pleaded guilty to defrauding about 530 investors out of more than $20 million.

Jeremiah Joseph Evans, also known as “the bull” and organizer of 2022 “Alpha ConThe Salt Lake City native appeared in federal court Thursday and pleaded guilty to money laundering and securities fraud.

Most of the investors, prosecutors said, entered into securities or investment contracts worth between $30,000 and $40,000 for the e-commerce stores that Alpha Efluk The LLC would allegedly operate.

Court documents state that neither Evans nor Alpha Influence was licensed to offer or sell securities.

Evans purchased the investments for “Alpha Automated stores” between July 2019 and July 2022, according to the documents. He told clients their money would be fully recovered within 12 to 18 months, court documents add, with returns of up to 10% in monthly returns.

Instead, prosecutors said, the funds were mostly distributed to Evans and those selling the investments as commissions, with a “portion” going toward the promised opening of Alpha Efluk online stores on Amazon.

In one charged case, Evans used $50,000 in a securities scheme to put a down payment on a Lamborghini.

A joint investigation by the Utah Department of Securities and the FBI’s Salt Lake City office determined that Evans, 29, also made false or misleading statements about the company’s success, how long it had been in business and his connections to “high-ranking Amazon employees.”

Investigators allege that Evans “failed to disclose that the screenshots released and published by Alpha Eplow for Amazon stores that were reported to be successful were not Alpha influence stores.” They say the scheme also withheld from investors the fact that Alpha’s influence “failed to acquire many stores after they were closed for violating Amazon policies.”

Evans is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3 in US District Court in Salt Lake City.

An Orem resident last November Col Glen BrimhallAlpha influence sales representative pleaded guilty to defrauding customers. Brimhull sold fraudulent investment contracts to approximately 130 investors between March 2020 and June 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.