SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 12, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City returned a 16 count indictment charging two Utah businessmen with various financial crimes, including wire fraud and money laundering.
The two business partners, both Alpine residents, are accused of defrauding private investors and lenders in restaurant businesses including Hello Sugar, Dirty Bird, Everbowl, Crumbl Cookies and Las Betellas.
Aaron A. Wagner, 42, was initially charged by complaint on Oct. 23, 2024, in the District of Utah and taken into custody. Wagner and his business partner and codefendant, Michael Mains, 46, were indicted Nov. 6.
“According to court documents, from March 2021 and continuing to the present, Wagner and Mains devised a fraudulent scheme to trick lenders and investors to send millions of dollars,” says a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, District of Utah.
“Wagner would tell lenders and investors that their funds would be used for developing certain restaurants. Instead, Wagner used the funds for personal expenses or investments, or to prop up projects for other investor groups, which also included himself as an investor.”
Court documents allege Wagner would further trick investors that he was a successful businessman by showing off his own lavish lifestyle, including personal jets, exotic vehicles, and luxury vacations. Wagner failed to disclose a large part of his success was financed by investor funds he allegedly stole from the businesses they were meant to support. Essentially, Wagner used new investor money, obtained through fraud, to falsely appease previous investors.
“As a result of the scheme, Wagner brought in more than $40 million from investors,” the news release says. “Wagner and Mains diverted millions for their own personal benefit to make purchases, including but not limited to a $4 million-dollar second home for Wagner in Scottsdale, Arizona; an $8 million personal airplane; a $4.5 million commercial property to be developed into a nightclub; and $8 million real estate property in Missoula, Montana.”
Wagner and Mains are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, transactional money laundering, and concealment money laundering. Their initial appearance on the indictment was Nov. 8 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2025.
United States Attorney Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah made the announcement. The case is being investigated by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Carl D. LeSueur and Brent L. Andrus of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah are prosecuting the case.
If you believe you are a victim of the alleged fraud described in this case, or have information concerning the fraud case, please email [email protected].
