Ephren Taylor, II, Mail and Wire Fraud, Georgia 2014

ATLANTA – Ephren Taylor, II, a 32-year-old CEO of City Capital Corporation, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud by defrauding hundreds of victims of their retirement savings.

According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: From at least April 2009 through October 2010, Ephren Taylor, II, and his co-defendant Wendy Connor, the former COO of City Capital Corporation, participated in a conspiracy to defraud investors.

Taylor acknowledged that he defrauded hundreds of investors of more than $7 million nationwide. In a separate hearing, co-defendant Wendy Connor also pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of money taken by fraud.

As part of the scheme, Taylor traveled around the country on a “Building Wealth Tour,” where he gave wealth management seminars to church congregations. During this tour, Taylor claimed to be a socially conscious investor and falsely claimed that 20% of profits were donated to charity.

One of the churches on the “Building Wealth Tour” was the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. While there, Taylor and Connor met potential investors to discuss possible investments. Over 80 individuals from Georgia lost more than $2 million because of Taylor’s scheme.

The investments pushed by Taylor included investing in promissory notes, where the funds invested would be used to support small businesses, such as laundries, juice bars, and gas stations. Taylor falsely represented the revenues and returns for these businesses knowing that they were not profitable.

Taylor also pushed an investment in sweepstakes machines. Sweepstakes machines are computers loaded with various games that allow players to win cash prizes. Taylor published offering materials that falsely claimed the average sweepstakes machine would generate 300% investor returns. He also stated that the sweepstakes machine investments were 100% risk-free.

Taylor knew that the investments he was touting were not profitable and that investors were not receiving actual returns from their investments.

The sentencing for Ephren Taylor, II, is scheduled for December 18, 2014, at 2:30 p.m.

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