Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Once retired, Sherry Reutlinger and her husband both picked up second jobs after a $30,000 investment went sour.
"Our initial investment of $30,000, at three times the money, was going to bring us $90,000," said Reutlinger, 58. "My husband and I were going to take that $90,000 and build a house for my granddaughter who is now 12, who has severe cerebral palsy."
Jack Phillips, of Oregon, is accused of defrauding Reutlinger and three other Utah investors out of $330,000 in what the Utah Securities Division calls a foreign currency and Brazilian emerald selling scheme.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
In an order issued last week, the Utah Securities Commission claims Phillips violated a variety of Utah laws while promising investors a 300 percent to 500 percent return with no risk.
"It was more trust than anything," Reutlinger said. "Jack came across as a father figure. We kept believing in Jack until there was no more to believe."
"Mr. Phillips promoted so many fanciful pitches that our investigative file reads like a Hollywood script.' - Keith Woodwell
The Utah Securities Commission said Phillips conned investors into a variety of phony schemes involving travel cards, foreign currency trading and importing Brazilian emeralds.
"Mr. Phillips promoted so many fanciful pitches that our investigative file reads like a Hollywood script," said Keith Woodwell, director of the Division of Securities.
"Instead of receiving valuable gemstones and currency profits, our victims were left with huge financial losses, low‐grade uncut emeralds and travel cards that bore no value over the paper they were printed on," Woodwell said.
Phillips did not have a Utah license to sell securities, offered an unregistered security, misrepresented key information and failed to disclose financial and company information to investors, the order stated.
"Even no matter how much you know about a person, you don't really know all about the person. Jack was a convicted felon that no one knew about," Reutlinger said.
In 2002, Phillips was convicted of unlawful gambling, a class C felony, in Oregon's Linn County Circuit Court.
Phillips now faces a $413,750 fine, which he must pay within 30 days of the May 23 order, and must stop all security related activities.
He is also permanently banned from dealing with any investment adviser or broker dealer, barred from representing an issuer or solicitor of investment funds, and can never become licensed in the securities industry in Utah.
Contributing: Jasen Lee
