Kasey Anderson, Wire Fraud, Vancouver WA, 2014

GRIMY NEWS ALERT: KASEY ANDERSON, a Vancouver, Washington musician and record producer, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan announced the sentence on July 22, 2014. Anderson pleaded guilty in August 2013, admitting he deceived investors into believing they were funding legitimate music projects.

Anderson’s schemes involved non-existent albums and concerts, including those featuring major recording artists like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and R.E.M. He also solicited funds for his own album and tours, as well as another musician’s project. Among the fraudulent endeavors was a claim that proceeds from an album would support the legal defense fund for the “West Memphis Three,” which turned out to be entirely fictional.

Between 2009 and 2011, Anderson induced over $500,000 in investments through these scams. He created fake email accounts for prominent industry figures and forged documents to give investors false hope of high returns. One such document, purporting to show $1.7 million in advance sales for a non-existent project, was revealed as a lie.

Anderson’s deceptions went further than mere paperwork; he falsified documents indicating tens of thousands of dollars in royalties from an album that had earned less than $10,000. He also claimed a concert tour had raked in more than $200,000 when the actual figure was a fraction of that. In total, Anderson took in over $590,000 from more than 30 investors.

U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton emphasized the seriousness of Anderson’s crime at the sentencing hearing in Tacoma. He ordered Anderson to pay $594,636 in restitution and said, “the offense is a serious one. You let down a lot of people.” The FBI investigated the case, with Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew Friedman and Thomas Bates leading the prosecution.

For his cunning scheme that exploited investors’ dreams of financial gain through music, KASEY ANDERSON will now serve time behind bars, serving as a stark reminder of the lengths some will go to in the pursuit of greed.