Indiana MoneyWise First Quarter 2015 | Page 13

Real life stories of

investment fraud

John Shamo, Posey County

Sentenced: Four years with two years in community corrections plus two years

probation.

Charges: 12 Class C felonies for selling unlicensed securities and for failure to

register to sell securities.

Method: Convinced owners of oil wells to invest funds to open wells and he

would create investment opportunities. Instead used funds for

personal gain.

Ryan Koester, Johnson County

Charges: Four Class C felonies securities fraud violations

Sentenced: 16 years and $517,000 in restitution.

Method: Foreign commodities. Solicited clients through his company Rykoworks

Capital Group and told clients he was investing their funds in foreign

markets, but used the funds for his personal gain.

Parry Clark

Charges:Three C felony counts and one B felony county for fraudulent sale of

securities as an unlicensed broker-dealer

Sentenced:Pled guilty and sentenced to 10 years with four years of jail time and

six years probation. Ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution.

Method:Sold unregistered securities as an unlicensed broker-dealer

Norman Forest Germany and E.B. Germany and Sons

Charges: Violations for not being registered to sell securities in Indiana, selling

unregistered securities in shares of an oil project that never happened

and falsifying statements of material facts in the sale of those

securities.

Sentenced: $80,000 settlement for selling unregistered oil rights to two

Indianapolis residents.

Method: Oil investment scheme

Charles Blackwelder and Cara Grumme, Hamilton County

Charges: 20 different felony counts violating securities fraud. Proof of claims

approximately $23 million.

Sentenced: Arrested in July. Pled guilty December 2014. Sentencing due in March

2015.

Method: Allegedly running a Ponzi scheme by selling investment opportunities

through rental properties to elderly investors.