James Leonard Smith, Investment-Fraud, Virginia 2020

A Virginia man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in a multibillion-dollar investment-fraud scheme that stole approximately $5.7 million from victim investors.

James Leonard Smith, 65, of Midlothian, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering on Oct. 30, 2020, after a four-day trial. The scheme, which operated from around 2014 to 2017, used Chimera Group Ltd., a purported investment company based out of the United Kingdom, to defraud victims.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Smith and his co-conspirators promised to pay victims a sum of money at a later date in exchange for an up-front payment. However, these promises were false, and the documents used to support them were fabricated, often with the assistance of Smith himself.

The scheme also involved the use of escrow attorneys, who were part of the scheme, to give victims the impression that their money would remain secure until the defendants’ promises had been kept. Co-conspirators Stuart Jay Anderson, 54, of Aliso Viejo, California, and James Michael Johnson, 70, of Richmond, were previously sentenced to four and eight years in prison, respectively.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. praised the efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI’s Richmond Field Office, and the Virginia State Corporation Commission for their role in investigating the case. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Vasanth Sridharan and Christopher Jackson of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore of the Eastern District of Virginia.

The U.S. government has made a significant effort to combat white-collar crime, and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section plays a pivotal role in this fight.

Smith, who was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, is expected to begin serving his sentence immediately. His co-conspirator, Brian Michael Bridge, 48, of London, England, a fugitive, is still at large and presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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