U.S. Department
of Justice
United States v. Robert J. Andres
Closed Criminal Division Cases
United States v. Robert J. Andres
Court Docket Number: 2:11-CR-00985-RJS
This case is assigned to United States District Judge Robert J. Shelby, United States District Court for the District of Utah, 351 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.
On December 17, 2014, Robert J. Andres, the sole investment manager and trustee of the Winsome Investment Trust, was sentenced, in a 5K1.1 downward departure, to 56 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $3,291,310.39 in restitution on his August 2013 guilty plea to one count of wire fraud charged in a December 2011 indictment. The charges stem from a $72 million investment fraud scheme, which caused approximately $40 million in losses to investors.
It is important for you to know that just because the Court ordered the defendant to make restitution in this case does not mean that the defendant is financially capable of making restitution at this time. The Court will enter a final order of restitution early in 2015. In the meantime, please see the following web site for important information on submitting a claim:http://www.kleinutah.com/index.php/receiverships/us-ventures. In the event that sufficient restitution payments are received from the defendant, Wayne Klein will administer the criminal restitution process.
On August 21, 2013, Robert J. Andres pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud (Counts 1: 18 U.S.C. § 1343) stemming from his role in a $72 million investment fraud scheme. On December 8, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah unsealed an indictment, filed on December 7, 2011, charging Robert J. Andres, sole investment manager and trustee of the Winsome Investment Trust (Winsome), with five counts of wire fraud (Counts 1-5: 18 U.S.C. § 1343) stemming from a $72 million insider investment fraud scheme
Andres was arraigned on December 16, 2011, and continued on the $100,000 bond that previously had been set in the case by U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy. He was then arrested for violating his pre-trial terms of release on July 3, 2012, and was ultimately released with modified terms of release, which are set out in the link below titled Order Setting Conditional Release. Status conferences were held in the case on November 2, 2012, February 1, 2013, May 7, 2013 and July 9, 2013.
According to the indictment, from October 2005 until at least January 2011, Andres recruited investors for Winsome by misrepresenting Winsome's assets and asset allocation and the way in which funds were invested. Between October 2005 and April 2007, Andres allegedly raised more than $39 million from Winsome investors by disseminating false and misleading Winsome balance sheets and by representing to investors that Andres would invest all of their funds in a trading program or a mostly automated trading business.
The indictment alleges that between April 2007 and January 2011, Andres used false and misleading information to raise an additional $32 million from new investors. Furthermore, Andres allegedly failed to disclose that new investors' funds would be used to pay earlier investors. The indictment also alleges that Andres used new investor funds to make purported "profit" payments to earlier investors to create the false impression that Winsome was profitable. During this period, Andres allegedly misappropriated approximately $2.2 million in investor proceeds for personal use, including hotel bills and living expenses.
In January 2011, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission obtained a federal court order freezing assets held by defendants Robert L. Holloway of San Diego, Calif., and US Ventures LC of Salt Lake City, Utah and Robert J. Andres and Winsome Investment Trust (Winsome), both of Houston, Texas.
Related Case: In a related case pending in the District of Utah, United States v. Robert Holloway (Court Docket No. 2:11-CR-00984), Holloway was convicted on all charges stemming from a $33 million scheme that defrauded investors of more than $10 million. The December 2011 indictment charged Holloway with four counts of wire fraud and one count of making and subscribing a false income tax return. Robert L. Holloway was sentenced on December 17, 2014.
If you have any questions, please call (888) 549-3945 or email us at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. The court-appointed trustee has posted information about its activities at http://www.kleinutah.com/index.php/receiverships/us-ventures. Investors and/or victims should consult those websites for additional information.