On Thursday, August 24, 2017, Acting United States Attorney Corey R. Amundson announced that 32-year-old Raphew T. Reed Jr. or Baton Rouge, Louisiana had been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. The defendant was convicted for Social Security number and wire fraud. Reed has also been ordered to pay his victims $140,973.75 in restitution, as well as $200 in special assessments. Reed has been ordered to forfeit $125,000 in proceeds from his crimes.
After being released from prison, Reed will serve 3 years of supervised release. Reed is an accomplished track and field athlete. He previously completed at the collegiate level with the University of Mississippi. He was also a member of the United States Track & Field Team during the Paralympic Games. After his athletic career came to an end, Reed became a financial advisor.
Unfortunately, Reed turned to fraud. In May of 2012, Reed provided a federally insured credit union with false documents and a false Social Security number in an attempt to secure a loan. That scheme failed. In late 2012 and through April 2013, Reed put another scheme into action to defraud another company. The company unwittingly wired Reed $125,000 on November 27, 2012. Reed gave the money to family members, friends and others he owned money. He also diverted some of the money to one of his own bank accounts.
In 2013, the victim repeatedly pleaded with Reed to return the money. He promised he would. He falsely claimed he was in the process of returning the money. Another victim was defrauded by Reed in June of 2014. This time, Reed promised a former teacher that he would invest her money in a hedge fund. In Spring of 2015, Reed found another victim in a technology company in Los Angeles, California. The defendant made false representations and caused the company to incur expenses based on the pretense that he had an interest in purchasing the company.
In total, it is believed that Reed’s scheme resulted in a loss of more than $200,000. That doesn’t take several fraudulent foreign securities and bonds that Reed attempted to deposit with several financial institutions into account. Those fraudulent foreign bonds had face value totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
32-year-old Raphew T. Reed Jr. will now spend 48 months in a federal prison.