PLANO, Texas — Three Plano residents have been charged with federal wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly stealing at least $9.5 million from investors.
Marina Brooks, 67; Charles “Chuck” Brooks, 71; and Crystal Brooks, 35, were charged on Dec. 14 by a federal grand jury with multiple counts of wire fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.
Federal officials say they engaged in a large-scale investment fraud scheme targeting people in the Mexican-American community.
According to the indictment, Marina, Chuck, and Crystal fraudulently solicited investments for several schemes, such as concert series and cryptocurrency-related projects.
The federal complaint alleges that "through marketing seminars, radio advertisements, and in-person meetings, the defendants fraudulently represented that these investment opportunities would yield significant returns relative to market standards."
Throughout the scheme, the defendants would transfer the victim investor funds to other business and personal accounts, take out commissions and cash withdrawals, and lost more than 95% of the funds taken from victim investors, federal authorities say.
In all, they allegedly fabricated information and took at least $9.5 million from at least 100 victim investors.
Marina, Chuck, and Crystal could each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
As per the law, an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations.
