On Friday, a federal jury convicted Reva Joyce Stachniw, 70, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Ron Throgmartin, 58, of Buford, Georgia, of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The pair ran a Ponzi scheme from late 2017 until early 2019 by fraudulently representing to victim-investors that their investments were backed by short-term investments in cattle. They also used false and fraudulent pretenses to solicit money for a Colorado-based marijuana business, Universal Herbs LLC.
Other victim-investors gave the pair money based on false promises that investment money would be used for legitimate business activities related to cattle or marijuana, without having the investment money linked to specific investment opportunities.
Stachniw and Throgmartin were convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2023, and face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the wire fraud counts and the conspiracy to commit wire fraud count, as well as 10 years in prison on the conspiracy to commit money laundering count.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
