A 20 year-old man from Danbury, Ian Parker Bick, has been found guilty of fraud and money laundering after operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 15 investors out of nearly $500,000, Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced.
“Mr. Bick repeatedly lied to victim investors, took their money and used it to take trips with friends, on shopping sprees, to purchase jet skis, and also to pay off previous investors who were promised unrealistic returns,” Daly said in a statement.
Bick was charged in a 15-count indictment on January 8, 2015. The jury found him guilty on six counts of wire fraud, which carry a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count, and one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
According to Daly”™s office, evidence presented at trial revealed Bick was a principal and/or managing member of various Danbury-based business entities including, This Is Where It”™s At Entertainment, LLC, Planet Youth Entertainment, W&B Wholesale, LLC, and W&B Investments, LLC. Using these entities, he solicited investment funds from his friends, former classmates, acquaintances, and their parents by promising high investment returns over relatively short periods of time.
He falsely represented to investors that he could generate the high investment returns by using their funds to purchase electronics such as iPhones, tablets and head phones, and then resell the items for a substantial profit via the Internet. However, the electronic resale business never actually began in earnest and did not return any meaningful profit.
Bick, who is also the owner of  Danbury nightclub Tuxedo Junction, also falsely represented to certain victim-investors that he could generate high investment returns by using their funds to organize and promote concerts at various venues in Connecticut and Rhode Island and falsely represented that he had made significant profits organizing and promoting concerts in the past.
He failed to invest the funds he received as he had represented and instead used invested funds for unrelated and unsuccessful businesses and to pay personal expenses as well as issue payments, purportedly as “interest payments” and as “return of principal,” according to Daly”™s office.
Bick was found not guilty on two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to federal law enforcement, and could not reach a verdict on three counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The government dismissed one count of money laundering prior to the trial.
Bick was released on a $250,000 bond and has been scheduled for sentencing on March 2, 2016.
