A Cincinnati broker who promised clients 30 percent returns on their money pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering Wednesday in federal District Court, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced.
Glen Galemmo, 48, who owned Queen City Investments and other investment companies in the Cincinnati area, admitted he defrauded approximately 200 people between 2005 and July 2013 by spending their money on himself and using it to pay off earlier investors instead of investing it. Galemmo was listed as a broker at 10 firms registered with the FInancial Industry Regulatory Authority from October 1993 through September 2012, according to Finra, and as being an employee, owner or partner at several other investment firms.
According to court documents, Galemmo lured investors with false promotional materials and received approximately $87 million cumulatively from individual investors, trusts, charitable organizations and retirement accounts. During this time, Galemmo also received approximately $29 million from some of these investors in the form of short-term loans.
To induce investors to continue to invest with him, Galemmo mailed or e-mailed fraudulent monthly statements to investors. To create the monthly statements, each client's principal investment balance was merely multiplied by a fictitious percentage of return, consistent with the returns that Galemmo had promised, says Carter M. Stewart, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
Galemmo agreed to forfeit three pieces of real estate, including a condo in Marco Island, Fla., the contents of bank and investment accounts and five vehicles.