Renato Libric, a 39-year-old resident of Redwood City, California, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in a $1.5 million investment scheme. The former CEO of Bouxtie, Inc. admitted to devising and carrying out a scheme to defraud potential investors in his company.
According to the plea agreement, Libric over stated the financial condition and prospects of Bouxtie, Inc. to induce potential investors to believe he had authority to sell shares in the company. He convinced members of a Las Vegas-based company to invest over $1 million in Bouxtie, Inc.
As part of the scheme, Libric fraudulently suggested to representatives of the potential investors that a large publicly-traded corporation was interested in purchasing Bouxtie at a price of $150 million. He also placed the signature of an executive with the alleged purchasing corporation on a forged Term Sheet and caused the falsified Term Sheet and a falsified bank statement to be transmitted to potential investors.
The false bank statement suggested Bouxtie had a balance of over $2,000,000 in an account when, in fact, there was only $7,642.82 in the account. Libric also placed the signatures of members of Bouxtie’s Board of Directors on a document that purported to authorize him to enter into agreements pursuant to which the investors would lend $1.5 million to Bouxtie and that the loan eventually would be converted into shares of Bouxtie.
As a result of his scheme, Libric convinced investors to transfer $1.5 million into accounts belonging to Bouxtie, Inc. He then withdrew more than $130,000 of the invested funds from an account and put the funds into his own checking account.
The maximum statutory penalties for wire fraud are 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release. Libric agreed to make restitution to the victims for their losses. His sentencing is scheduled for November 28, 2018.
The case against Libric was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew McCarthy with the assistance of Bridget Kilkenny.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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