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SALT LAKE CITY — A South Jordan man faces securities fraud charges after investigators say he defrauded friends, neighbors and an elderly woman from his LDS ward of more than $2.5 million.
Clint William Nordahl, 42, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of securities fraud, a second-degree felony; false statements on securities document, a third-degree felony; and pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony.
From 2013 to 2017, charges say Nordahl "offered and sold multiple investment opportunities to an estimated 50 individuals and collected a total of approximately $2,836,158 in connection therewith." He sold investment contracts, which are defined as securities by state code, charges state.
Charges say Nordahl allegedly defrauded include his father's longtime friend, an elderly woman whom he convinced to invest with him during a home-teaching visit through his LDS ward, parents of a boy in his son's basketball league, and a widow he met on a Latter-day Saint dating website, among others.
According to the charges, Nordahl made "untrue statements" and omitted facts as he convinced people to invest with him and his shipping company, Caman Trans, LLC, which "has never been licensed nor made any securities registrations with the Division," investigators said.
In many of the cases, he talked people into investing in his shipping company by telling them the money would be used to front shipping costs and promising them they would soon receive interest payments, court documents state.
According to investigators, when Nordahl accepted money from people to front costs for shipments, he "had not arranged to fund any shipments in advance."
The money was instead used for personal expenses, to pay other investors and was transferred into personal futures trading accounts, investigators said.
When investors did not see a return of their money and confronted Nordahl, he gave various excuses including that another man had lost the funds, that he faced personal issues that prevented him from repaying them and that the shipping company had seen problems, according to investigators.
Nordahl is licensed as an insurance agent but has never been licensed as a broker with Utah Department of Commerce's Division of Securities, the charges said.
Becoming licensed with the Division of Securities is a requirement in the state for those who are "effecting, or brokering, securities transactions for compensation" or managing others' money for compensation, according to the division's website.
