Former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer will do prison time for a scheme to bilk the Native American tribe out of $60 million.
Devon Archer on Monday was sentenced to a year and a day for attempting to defraud one of the poorest tribes in the nation, the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota.
From DOJ Press Release
From March 2014 through April 2016, ARCHER, Bevan Cooney, John Galanis, Jason Galanis, Gary Hirst, Michelle Morton, Hugh Dunkerley, and others engaged in a fraudulent scheme that involved (a) causing the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation (“WLCC”), a Native American tribal entity, to issue a series of bonds (the “Tribal Bonds”) through lies and misrepresentations; (b) deceptively causing clients of asset management firms controlled by Hirst, Morton, and others to purchase the Tribal Bonds, which the clients were then unable to redeem or sell because the bonds were illiquid and lacked a ready secondary market; and (c) misappropriating the proceeds resulting from those bond sales.
The WLCC was convinced to issue the Tribal Bonds through false and fraudulent representations by John Galanis. Simultaneously, Jason Galanis, with the backing of ARCHER and others, worked to acquire Hughes Capital Management (“Hughes”), a registered investment adviser. Morton and Hirst were installed as Hughes’ Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, respectively. Within weeks of taking control of Hughes, Morton and Hirst placed the entire $28 million first series of Tribal Bonds with Hughes clients but failed to disclose material facts about the Tribal Bonds, including the fact that the Tribal Bonds fell outside of the investment parameters set forth in the investment advisory contracts of certain Hughes clients. In addition, Hughes’ clients were not told about substantial conflicts of interest with respect to the issuance and placement of the Tribal Bonds before the Tribal Bonds were purchased on these clients’ behalf.
The defendants and their co-conspirators then misappropriated the proceeds of first Tribal Bond issuance. Specifically, although the Tribal Bonds were supposed to be invested in an annuity, Dunkerley, at the direction of Jason Galanis, transferred significant amounts of the bond proceeds to support the defendants’ business and personal interests. John Galanis, for example, secretly received $2.35 million in proceeds of the first bond issuance, which he spent on a variety of personal expenses and luxury items, including cars, jewelry, and hotel expenses. Similarly, Jason Galanis used a portion of the proceeds of the first Tribal Bond issuance to finance the purchase of a $10 million luxury apartment in Tribeca, which, with ARCHER’s consent, he purchased in ARCHER’s name.
At the time of the indictment Hunter's lawyer said he knew nothing about it.
'The defendants invoked and used Hunter's name - without his knowledge - to lend their business venture more credibility,' attorney George Mesires said.
'As soon as Hunter learned of the illegal conduct, and that his name was being used in this unauthorized and inappropriate manner, Hunter took immediate steps to ensure that his business interests would not be associated with the Burnham Group or with any of the defendants.'
But emails show that Hunter, 52, was involved with other deals with the company and Archer throughout the period it was perpetrating the $60million fraud from 2014 to 2016. (LIAR!)
Archer wrote to Hunter in September 2011 encouraging him to meet Bevan Cooney, one of the first to be jailed for the scheme, telling his best friend: 'I want to work with them' and 'I want you to meet Chad [another business associate] and Bevan. Our type of guys.'
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