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Draper man indicted for 15 counts of mail fraud after allegedly misappropriating $24 million

Posted at 3:24 PM, Feb 26, 2015
and last updated 2015-02-26 17:24:05-05

SALT LAKE CITY – A Draper man has been indicted on 15 counts of mail fraud, and it is alleged the man misappropriated more than $24 million from more than 5,000 customers in order to make high-risk, personal investments.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah, 58-year-old Curtis Lynn DeYoung of Draper was indicted by a grand jury, and the indictment alleges the man misappropriated funds from customers while he served as president and CEO of American Pension Services.

DeYoung has already appeared in court regarding the alleged fraud. He was named in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission last April, which accused him of defrauding customers out of the roughly $24 million mentioned in the recently returned indictment.

The indictment was returned Wednesday afternoon and announced Thursday. APS was a Utah corporation formed around 1983 that acted as a third-party administrator for self-directed individual retirement accounts, according to the press release.

The indictment alleges that from about 1998 to 2014, DeYoung came up with scheme to use false and fraudulent representations, promises and omissions of material facts in order to defraud and obtain money from APS customers. DeYoung allegedly misappropriated funds of more than 5,000 customers, and those funds were held in two of three APS bank accounts known as the “Master Trust.” The accounts co-mingled cash from APS customers.

According to the press release, the indictment alleges DeYoung misappropriated funds in those accounts to, “make personal high-risk, unsecured investments” without notifying APS customers and while “knowing that the money did not belong to him and that he was using it for purposes not authorized by APS customers.”

DeYoung allegedly attempted to conceal this misappropriation in October of 2009 by making a false accounting entry in the amount of $24,789,313.65. The man allegedly continued to solicit new customers and act as a third-party administrator while concealing the fact the amount of cash available in the Master Trust accounts did not equal the amount stated due to his alleged misappropriation. The man allegedly had been sending false APS account statements to customers since 1998 in order to conceal the scheme.

If DeYoung is convicted, the indictment seeks the forfeiture of money equal to the amount allegedly misused, which is valued at about $24,789,313.65. The maximum possible penalty for each of the 15 counts of mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. A summons will be issued to DeYoung to appear in court.

APS customers who spoke with FOX 13 News in October of 2014 about the incident and SEC lawsuit said they are concerned they will be stuck with the cost of DeYoung’s alleged fraud.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City.