Swiss Businessman Extradited After 11 Years Pleads Guilty to $6 Million Securities Fraud Scheme
LAS VEGAS — A Swiss executive who lived abroad as a fugitive for nearly 11 years pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a multimillion-dollar securities fraud scheme that defrauded victims of approximately $6 million, the Justice Department announced.
Martin Schlaepfer, 67, a Swiss national, entered the plea to securities fraud in federal court. According to court documents, Schlaepfer identified himself to victims as the Chief Executive Officer of Malom Group AG, a purported Swiss investment company.
Prosecutors said that beginning as early as October 2009, Schlaepfer and co-conspirators based in Switzerland and Las Vegas orchestrated a scheme promoting fictitious investments. They told victims that for an up-front payment, Malom would provide access to lucrative investment opportunities and substantial cash loans.
To carry out the scheme, the co-conspirators provided victims with fabricated bank documents purporting to show that Malom held hundreds of millions of dollars in overseas accounts. When victims wired money into an escrow account controlled by the conspirators, the funds were released and disbursed to Schlaepfer and others for personal use, according to court documents.
Schlaepfer was indicted in December 2013. He was arrested in Italy in September 2024 pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice and extradited to the United States in July 2025.
Three of Schlaepfer’s co-conspirators—Anthony Brandel, James Warras, and Sean Finn—were found guilty of conspiracy and multiple counts of wire fraud and securities fraud following separate jury trials in 2015 and 2020. Each was sentenced to 87 months in prison. A fourth defendant, Joseph Micelli, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2015 and was sentenced to 60 months. A fifth defendant, Hans-Jurg Lips, remains at large outside the United States.
Schlaepfer is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Tennessee Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to $80 Million Pandemic Relief Fraud Scheme
WASHINGTON — The owner of a Tennessee tax preparation business pleaded guilty Tuesday to orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that steered approximately $80 million in pandemic relief funds to herself and her clients, the Justice Department announced.
Renata Walton, 45, of Mississippi, owned and operated a tax preparation business in Moscow, Tennessee. From approximately March 2022 through August 2023, she conspired with an employee to file false tax returns for clients seeking fraudulent refunds based on the employee retention credit (ERC) and paid sick and family leave credit—programs Congress created to aid struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to court documents.
The employee, Nicole Jones, also known as Nicole Dickerson, of Cordova, Tennessee, pleaded guilty on Aug. 15, 2025, for her role in the scheme.
Prosecutors said Walton and Jones reported fictitious wages on clients’ tax returns to fraudulently claim the credits, knowing their clients had not paid wages in those amounts and were not entitled to the funds. Walton also filed false applications to the Small Business Administration for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program funds, submitting false tax forms to support the claims.
As a result of the scheme, clients received tax refunds often exceeding $100,000, and Walton and Jones received fees from clients—typically around $15,000 per return, according to court documents.
When the IRS began contacting clients to recover the fraudulently issued funds, Walton allegedly obstructed the agency’s efforts by providing clients with letters falsely asserting that the fictitious wages reported on their tax returns were legitimate. Neither Walton nor Jones filed tax returns for tax year 2022, failing to pay taxes on the income they earned through the schemes.
In total, Walton filed tax returns and other documents claiming nearly $80 million in pandemic funds and tax refunds that she and her clients were not entitled to receive, causing a loss of more than $52 million to the United States. Jones was responsible for a portion of these fraudulent claims.
“Renata Walton exploited critical pandemic relief programs designed to help struggling businesses and workers, lining her own pockets while causing more than $52 million in losses to the United States,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
Both Walton and Jones face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for each count of wire fraud; 10 years for each count of money laundering; three years for each count of assisting in the preparation of a false tax return; and one year for willful failure to file a return. Walton also faces up to 20 years for obstruction of justice.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Walton is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18. Jones is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.