Toledo financial managers arrested in alleged multi-million dollar investment fraud plot

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Numerous managers in a local investment firm are facing dozens of felony charges in a decades-long fraud scheme, officials announced Tuesday.

According to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office, eight financial managers are accused of cheating hundreds of clients out of $72 million. The case is centered around Northwest Capital, a Toledo investment firm that serves as an intermediary between investors and businesses raising capital by selling accounts receivables. Other entities and investment funds associated with the alleged scheme include Briarfield Capital, ThunderRoad Partners, TRF Fund 1, TRF Fund 2, Kings Point Leasing and Winding Creek Partners.

The following people are facing felony charges:

• James DelVerne, 93 felonies
• Doug Miller, 39 felonies
• Gary Rathbun, 37 felonies
• Colleen Hall, 10 felonies
• Nancy Rathbun, seven felonies
• Adam Salon, seven felonies
• John Walters, six felonies
• Brad Konerman, five felonies

Seven of the accused were arrested Tuesday and the last is in the process of turning himself in.

The managers are accused of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, unlawful securities practices, telecommunications fraud, aggravated theft, perjury, money laundering and several other financial charges in connection to 741 investments from at least 200 people from January 2011 to December 2021. The indictment alleges the eight defendants solicited investment advisory clients to buy alternative investments from securities issuers without fully disclosing the mangers’ conflicts of interest. The defendants are also accused of certifying false investment values, which were shared in annual statements issued to investors.

13abc previously reported a Ohio BCI raid at the location on Kings Pointe Dr. in Sylvania Township in 2021.

Yost’s office said the indictment follows a multi-year investigation by numerous state agencies. The Division of Securities previously revoked the investment advisor representative licenses of two of the defendants, Doug Miller and Gary Rathbun, for misconduct related to this case. Read the indictment in full below.

13abc is working to obtain mugshots of the other two defendants charged in the case.

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