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SALT LAKE CITY — A jury has found a Washington City man guilty of lying to a federal court about hiding assets for his brother-in-law who was involved in an alleged Ponzi scheme.
Kevin Carl Fortney, 55, was convicted this week of making false statements in a court declaration and to a federal agent in a Securities and Exchange Commission case.
His brother-in-law, Roger Stanley Bliss, 57, of Bountiful, is already serving a year in prison for disobeying a court order by giving his 17-foot catamaran to Fortney after his assets were frozen in the SEC case.
Fortney concealed and sold the sailboat but told the court that he owned it, used it at Bear Lake and moved it to St. George.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Bliss last year, alleging securities fraud and that he fraudulently acted as an investment adviser. Bliss violated a court order to freeze his assets and lied to U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby about it. Shelby asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate Bliss and Fortney for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Fortney is scheduled to be sentenced in August. He faces up to five years in federal prison on each of the two charges against him.
