Indiana financial adviser pleads guilty in $4.69m sports betting-related fraud
Over the course of a decade, Christopher Turean used his victim’s money as his “own personal piggy bank” but now faces up to 20 years in prison
Christopher Turean, a financial adviser based in Indiana, has pleaded guilty this week to one count each of wire fraud and tax fraud after he was found to have siphoned $4.69m of his client’s money to spend on sports betting and paying off debts.
The client’s money was moved in tranches into a private liabilities company named SCNT, controlled by Turean, and from there into his personal bank account.
Funds were then used to pay off debts and “frequently” place sports bets on sites including DraftKings and FanDuel, with prosecutors noting he used the “victim’s money as his own personal piggy bank”.
The financial adviser, who has subsequently been fired from his job for the “misappropriation of customer funds”, committed the offences between September 2012 and February 2022. He began gambling regularly from July 2019.
According to court documents, Turean’s client approved the transfers on the belief his adviser had their best interests at heart.
Turean told the client the money was being used for real estate, even providing forged net worth statements which falsely showed the victim had $1.2m invested in “SCNT LLC real estate fund”. He also put more than $1m of the client’s money toward an equity line of credit connected to his own home.
Turean further falsified his taxable income to the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), which led to the charge of tax fraud.
As part of his plea bargain, Turean said he will repay his victim in full as well as $1.7m to the IRS.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, though the court is yet to set a sentencing date.