Tyris D. Maxey, Investment Manager Indicted on Fraud Charges, Illinois 2017

CHICAGO — A Chicago investment manager has been indicted on six counts of wire fraud for allegedly swindling nearly $1 million from a retired school teacher.

Tyris D. Maxey, 43, the owner of RB Mister Enterprises LLC, a Wyoming company with an office in Chicago, persuaded the retired teacher to give him approximately $950,000 for purported investments, according to an indictment returned in federal court in Chicago on August 10, 2017.

Maxey claimed that his investment firm was highly successful and that he put up his own money in the firm’s investments. In reality, Maxey’s investment activity was minimal, and he spent nearly all of the victim’s money to cover personal expenses, the indictment states. The few real investments that Maxey purchased with the victim’s money sustained heavy losses, the indictment states.

The indictment charges Maxey with six counts of wire fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Maxey pleaded not guilty at a Monday afternoon arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in Chicago. Maxey was ordered released from custody on a $10,000 appearance bond, and a status hearing was set for September 12, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber.

The indictment was announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and E.C. Woodson, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.