Another guilty plea in Ponzi scheme case

VW independent staff/submitted information

COLUMBUS — A northwest Ohio woman has become the fourth person to plead guilty in a massive Ponzi case.

Nancy Rathbun of Fulton County pleaded guilty on Friday for her involvement in an alleged $72 million Ponzi scheme targeting Ohio investors. She entered her plea in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to one felony count of attempted money laundering.

Rathbun was a bookkeeper for Private Wealth Consultants, Ltd., and married to a former investment adviser from the same firm who is also a co-defendant in the case, Gary Rathbun. As part of her plea, she agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation and testify in the prosecutions of co-defendants. However, she is not being asked to offer cooperation or testimony against her husband.

The case is the result of a multi-year investigation led by the Division of Securities in partnership with the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Deputy Attorney Inspector Harvey McCleskey led the investigation for the Division of Securities, meanwhile the prosecution is being led by Principle Assistant Attorney General Dan Kasaris and Assistant Attorney General Drew Wood.

“This plea by Mrs. Rathbun is an important development in the case and underscores the Division’s commitment to hold every person accountable for their crimes against Ohio investors,” said Ohio Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt. “It’s not uncommon for spouses to get roped into hiding assets for their loved ones but a good forensic accountant will never be fooled. I cannot say enough about the dedication of our enforcement team and our prosecution partners who continue to churn day in and day out to provide justice for the victims.”

Rathbun’s plea follows a similar plea last month from two of her co-defendants, James Delverne and Doug Miller. Last May, Richard Scheich, a former executive with Northwest Capital also pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts in the case. Scheich’s actions allegedly defrauded investors of nearly $9 million in investments, contributing to a larger $72 million alleged fraudulent scheme.

From January 2011 through December 2021, managers at Northwest Capital in Toledo, along with other co-defendants from entities who worked with the firm, allegedly misled investors about critical facts, including conflicts of interest within the organization and the financial health of affiliated entities. Investigators allege that funds were manipulated to create an illusion of success, while investors received falsified annual statements to conceal the scheme’s reality.  While investors received annual statements supporting the value of their investments, these values ultimately proved to be false when investors requested redemption of their investment principal and Northwest Capital was unable to fund those redemptions.