A Florida businessman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for defrauding clients across several states, including Kansas, Missouri, Utah, and Ohio. David Ingram, 73, of Bristol, Pennsylvania—formerly of Sanford, Florida and Cornelius, North Carolina—was given a 46-month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Court documents show that Ingram was the founder and managing member of AltosGroups, LLC. The company claimed to have access to warehouse lines of credit with major international financial institutions. AltosGroups entered into contracts with commercial real estate developers, promising to secure funding for construction projects. Ingram required developers to pay initial deposits for access to these lines of credit.
However, investigators found that AltosGroups did not have such lines of credit. Instead of holding the deposits in accounts dedicated to the respective projects as promised, Ingram diverted the funds into accounts controlled by himself or his wife. He used the money for personal expenses and other business activities. This included transferring $3 million to a Mexican financial institution. The loans were never funded and victims did not receive their deposits back.
“Schemes as shady as this one merit aggressive investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation,” said St. Louis Field Office Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “Mr. Ingram caused a great deal of financial loss to the four victims all to fill his own bank accounts with their hard-earned money. Now it’s time for him to be held accountable for his actions.”
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan J. Huschka prosecuted the case.
