SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A former South Bend man has been charged with five counts of mail fraud after being wanted by the FBI.
Sven Marshall, 61, is accused of owning and running an investment company named Trust & Advisory Services of Indiana, Inc, which scammed the elderly.
In March 1998, Marshall found people to invest in the company and promised returns of about four to eight percent per year.
During this time he gave investors monthly statements that showed their balance. However, the U.S. Department of Justice said by January 2016, the Trust & Investment account was nearly empty, and Marshall was misrepresenting the balance to investors.
Marshall did pay some of the investors money, but that money came from other unrelated accounts.
In December 2017, he stopped communicating with investors, and closed his office without notifying anybody. This left investors unable to recover their investments.
The Department of Justice says many of the investors were in their seventies and eighties.
“Elder abuse scams, such as the scheme alleged in this case, will be aggressively prosecuted in this district,” United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II said. ” When they place their trust, and in some case their life savings, into the hands of someone who abuses that trust to steal for personal gain, it is incumbent upon law enforcement to take action.”
A federal warrant was issued for Marshall on Dec. 12, 2018. He was arrested on Wednesday in Florida.
(Photo by: FBI)
