Former Accounting Manager for Historic Savannah Foundation Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced that James Walter Boston, 53, of Savannah, Georgia, appeared in United States District Court on June 19, 2009 and pled guilty to one count of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344.

Boston had been charged with bank fraud and access device fraud in an indictment returned by the federal grand jury in March 2009. That indictment arose out of an investigation into allegations that Boston embezzled money from the general operating account of the Historic Savannah Foundation, a local non-profit organization, while he was employed as its Accounting and Finance Manager. The indictment alleged that on over fifty separate occasions between May 2, 2008, and December 23, 2008, Boston fraudulently wrote checks and made wire transfers from the Historic Savannah Foundation’s general operating account to his own personal bank account. It was further alleged that over the course of his employment, Boston embezzled approximately $74,000.

Booth stated that the evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing showed that Boston obtained that money from the Historic Savannah Foundation by fraudulent means. In fact, Boston admitted that he had obtained the money by fraud.

Booth noted that Boston faces a maximum statutory penalty of thirty (30) years' imprisonment, a $1,000,000 fine, and five (5) years' supervised release. Boston remains on bond pending his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Booth commended Special Agent Josh Hayes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his work on the investigation. The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Brian Tanner.

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Georgia Man Sentenced for 36 Months in Prison for Inernet Investment Fraud

A Georgia man was sentenced October 15, 2008, in U.S. District Court for using an Internet website in the name of the Transnational Fund to fraudulently induce persons to invest in so-called “certificates” promising a guaranteed rate of return in nine months.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division and Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department, announced today that MICHAEL PATRICK LUCKETT, age 37, of 6015 Henson Rd., Gainseville, GA, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William G. Young to 36 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. LUCKETT was also ordered to pay $97,387 in restitution. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to distribute approximately $222,900, held in frozen bank accounts, to victims in the near future. LUCKETT pled guilty to four counts of mail fraud on July 14, 2008.

At an earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that LUCKETT used a website in the name of Transnational Fund to induce individuals to invest in “certificates” with a guaranteed return of principal and approximately 6.35% interest after nine months, but that instead of investing the funds he received, LUCKETT used them for his own personal and business purposes. By this scheme, LUCKETT induced approximately fifteen persons from around the United States to send him a total of more than $450,000. LUCKETT operated the Transnational Fund scheme from an apartment in Boston, while the website directed prospective investors to mail their checks to an address in Hartford, which LUCKETT arranged to be forwarded to him. LUCKETT opened multiple bank accounts in the name of the Transnational Fund into which he deposited investors’ funds, and that he used nearly $100,000 of the funds received for expenses such as his personal rent and meals, making cash withdrawals and promoting the Transnational Fund website.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Boston Police Department, with assistance from the Boston Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit.


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