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FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — Four men, including two from Utah, have been sentenced for their roles in what prosecutors say was an $18 million global investment fraud scheme.
Kevin Griffith, 68, of Orem, was sentenced last week to 12½ years in federal prison, while Alexander Ituma, 57, of Lehi was sentenced to just over eight years in prison. The other two men, John C. Nock, 55, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, was sentenced to nearly 21 years in prison, and Brian Brittsan, 67, of Boise, was sentenced to 10 years.
The four men engaged in an investment fraud scheme through an entity known as "the Brittingham Group," which Nock founded.
"Together, the four defendants falsely represented the nature of their investment offerings and promised outsize returns to victims that, in reality, the defendants could not and did not produce. To promote and conceal the conspiracy, Nock and Brittsan directed victims to send their money to bank accounts that Griffith, Ituma, and other co-conspirators controlled. Once the money was in the hands of the co-conspirators, the defendants transferred victim money through a complex web of worldwide bank accounts," according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.
The men were convicted in September by a federal jury in Arkansas.
Starting in 2013, Nock and Brittsan "promised large returns in a short period of time, as much as 200% or 300% within 20 to 30 days. They also guaranteed the safety of the victims' principal payments, often through fraudulent letters on third-party letterhead, including the letterhead of financial institutions," according to the charges.
"For nearly a decade, the defendants brazenly and repeatedly lied to investors, defrauding them out of more than $18 million and laundering the proceeds of their crime through a complex web of bank accounts around the world," deputy assistant attorney general Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in a statement.
"The victims in this case were promised lucrative investment opportunities, but what they got was a conspiracy of lies and fraud," said Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division.
