California Con Man Glynn Admits NJ Fraud

CAMDEN, N.J. – A California man is facing serious time after admitting to fleecing victims in Cumberland County with a classic con: a fake investment scheme promising big returns. Christopher Glynn, 58, of Burbank, California, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, bringing an end – at least for now – to a case that stretched from the Jersey pines to the Pacific Northwest.

Glynn’s scheme dates back to 2014, when he was running a network of shell corporations – U.S. Grant Distribution Group, PG Philanthropic Initiative, Perrarus Global Philanthropic Initiative, among them – and falsely claimed affiliation with a massively funded international trust. He targeted two victims in Vineland, New Jersey, dangling the prospect of a “business development loan” worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The pitch? The loan would fund legitimate business expenses, a charitable animal welfare foundation the victims were hoping to establish, and would be guaranteed by the aforementioned, fictitious international trust.

Glynn didn’t just rely on slick talk. He flooded the victims with official-looking emails, contracts, and even orchestrated conference calls with supposed heavy hitters – claiming to have a “direct representative from the NSA” and someone from either DHS or the FBI on the line. It was a calculated effort to create an illusion of legitimacy, to convince the victims they were making a safe, profitable investment. They wired the funds as instructed, believing Glynn’s promises.

But the money never went where it was supposed to. Instead of funding legitimate business or charitable causes, Glynn and his associates siphoned off the loan money for their own personal expenses – a betrayal of trust that landed him in federal court. After being indicted in August 2019, Glynn went on the run, evading law enforcement for nearly a year before being apprehended in Medford, Oregon, and brought back east to face the music.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The money laundering count could add another 10 years and a $250,000 fine – or twice the value of the stolen funds. Glynn is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5, 2022. Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig credited the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, led by Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., with the dogged investigation that brought Glynn to justice.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara A. Aliabadi and Andrew B. Johns of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden are prosecuting the case. This is another reminder that even the most elaborate schemes will eventually unravel, and those who prey on the trust of others will be held accountable.

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