CHICAGO - A suburban Chicago man and a colleague from Georgia bilked more than two dozen investors of about $22 million, the federal government alleged Friday. <br>
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August Ghilarducci, 42, of West Chicago, the owner and president of Westchester Financial Associates Inc., was charged with 16 counts of wire fraud and eight counts of money laundering. His associate, Ronald Richardson, 53, of Acworth, Ga., was charged with eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. <br>
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Indictments of the two were returned Thursday. <br>
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Richardson had an unlisted home phone number in Georgia, while a call to Ghilarducci's home went unanswered. <br>
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Between March 1996 and June 2001, Ghilarducci and Richardson sold various financial instruments to clients, including corporate bonds and letters purportedly issued by foreign banks, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The two promised the clients access to and substantial profits from international bank trading programs, prosecutors said, when they knew the investments had little or no value. <br>
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Ghilarducci and Richardson took in about $20 million from about 27 clients, they said. They used the money for personal reasons and to refund money to clients who had lost money on other transactions, the government said. <br>
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Ghilarducci made an additional $2.3 million by selling worthless 19th century railroad bonds to clients, according to the government. <br>
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Neither man has been arraigned yet.
