Utah Man Jergensen Gets 59 Months for $2.5M Plattsburgh Scam

Keith Eric Jergensen, 58, of Salt Lake City, Utah, is going down for 59 months after a federal judge slammed him for stealing $2.5 million from a Plattsburgh-based aerospace venture. The money, pulled from investors hoping to revive a defunct Air Force base with jobs and innovation, was siphoned off in a cold, calculated fraud scheme that spanned years and left retirees and executives gutted.

Jergensen, co-CEO of Chicago’s Verdant Capital Group, LLC, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes in Syracuse. He must also serve three years of supervised release and pay full restitution—$2.5 million—to the victims. Jergensen was taken into custody immediately after the hearing. His co-defendant, Debashis Ghosh, 53, of Chicago, Illinois, convicted alongside him in October 2017 after a seven-day wire fraud conspiracy trial, awaits sentencing on April 2.

The scam began when Plattsburgh’s Laurentian Aerospace Corporation hired Verdant to raise funds for a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at the former Plattsburgh Air Force base. Laurentian wired $2.5 million into a Wells Fargo account on December 3, 2010, with strict instructions: the money was seed funding, to remain untouched without Laurentian’s approval. Five days later, Jergensen and Ghosh started draining it—by March 18, 2011, every dollar was gone.

They blew the cash on Verdant’s payroll, contractors, and shell-game transfers—including $1.75 million to a defunct wind turbine company tied to Ghosh, $96,500 funneled to Jergensen’s Utah outfit Contour Composites, Inc., a $55,000 ‘loan’ to a friend who never paid back, and $14,500 paid to an Arizona man peddling fake access to union pension funds. None of it went to the promised aerospace project.

Even after the money vanished, Jergensen doubled down on lies. He forged documents, including a fake memorandum of understanding, claiming the $2.5 million was still locked in a secured Wells Fargo account. The victims—among them a retired Air Force colonel, a former New York City Deputy Mayor, and multiple retired financial and airline executives—were fed years of deception. The Plattsburgh facility remains unbuilt.

U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith didn’t mince words: “Jergensen stole $2.5 million from investors trying to bring an innovative business and jobs to Plattsburgh, and then tried to cover up his theft with years of lies.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Vadim D. Thomas added, “Jergensen and Ghosh abused their investors’ trust, as well as their money.” The FBI led the investigation; Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett prosecuted. Evidence also showed the duo misappropriated another $2.4 million from other firms. The fallout spreads far beyond one sentence.