SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) — A man charged with defrauding Seattle-area residents and others of about $5.8-million over the course of 2-years while pretending to be a British billionaire, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
The Seattle Times reports a plea agreement Thursday calls for Keenan Gracey to spend more than 12-years in prison.
Dozens in Washington and California gave Gracey as much as $745,000 for what he called “pre-IPO” stock in companies that had not gone public yet.
Prosecutors say he claimed to have millions of shares that would produce 60 times the investment when, in fact, he owned no such stock.
An investigation later revealed Gracey is from Canada.