Man Pleads Guilty to $55M Investment Fraud Scheme

(By Staff Reporter) A Florida man pleaded guilty today to orchestrating an investment fraud scheme that defrauded more than 10,000 victims of over $55 million. According to court documents, Michael Glaspie, 72, of Palm City, marketed an investment opportunity under the name “CoinDeal” or “Coin Deal.” Glaspie claimed that CoinDeal would yield extremely high returns on the premise that one or more technology companies – operated under the banner of “ViRSE” and allegedly owned by Neil Suresh Chandran – was about to be acquired by a consortium of wealthy buyers. To entice investors to put money into CoinDeal, Glaspie falsely promised that in the event the returns from CoinDeal failed to materialize, he would repay investors their money with seven percent annual interest over three years. In fact, Glaspie knew he had no means of making such repayments. “For his brazen and repeated lies that defrauded more than 10,000 victims out of more than $55 million, the defendant now justifiably faces a lengthy prison term,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to rooting out investment fraud and holding wrongdoers accountable to protect the financial security of all Americans.” To support his false repayment promise, Glaspie deceptively claimed that he had an exclusive and lucrative contract with AT&T to distribute government-funded phones, and that an app that he developed was being distributed by the Better Business Bureau and would yield over $400 million in revenue, when he had no such contract or distribution agreement.