Anchorage man charged with approximately $25 million dollar wire fraud scheme involving over 130 victims

Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - An information was filed charging Garrett Elder, owner of Tycoon Trading LLC, The Daily Bread Fund LLC, and other entities with executing an investment scheme that resulted in approximately $25 million in losses to over 130 victims.

According to the information, from about 2016 through October 2022, defendant Garrett Elder executed a scheme to raise between $30 and $34 million in investments from approximately 130 victims. The scheme began about early 2016 when the defendant’s parents provided the defendant between $10,000 and $20,000 to invest in stocks and foreign currencies. The defendant deposited those funds into an entity he had created called Tycoon Trading, LLC (“Tycoon Trading”). The defendant lost all of those funds.

Despite the losses, the defendant told his family and friends about his trading business, and some expressed an interest in investing. Defendant did not tell the potential investors that he had lost the money provided by his parents. Instead, the defendant gave these victims the false impression that he was a successful trader.

Based on these omissions and false impressions, between 2016 and March 2018, investors transferred approximately $500,000 to Tycoon Trading for the defendant to invest. The defendant again began losing money but created false quarterly performance reports for his victim investors stating
that the investments were earning positive returns. By March 2018, the defendant had lost almost all the victims’ money while trading and only had approximately $10,000 to $15,000 left in his trading account. In March 2018, the defendant disclosed to the victims that their investments had failed, but he did not disclose that he falsified the quarterly performance reports he had sent them.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding the near-total losses, the defendant continued to seek new investors, claiming to be a successful trader. By the end of 2018, the defendant had approximately 30 new investors who were investing substantially more money than the original group of investors.

In 2019, the defendant created an entity called The Daily Bread Fund, LLC.

From 2019 through 2022, the defendant continued to solicit new investors through Tycoon Trading and the Daily Bread Fund by claiming to be a successful trader and paying a limited amount of distributions to select investors to provide the appearance of investment successes. The defendant successfully solicited significant new investments; however, in reality, the defendant continued to steadily lose money. Despite continued mounting losses, the defendant again created and emailed to investors false reports indicating positive returns. Defendant also used some of the
victims’ money on personal expenditures, including real estate investments, vehicles, a boat, a camper, bicycles, tools, and jewelry.

In total, the amount of funds transferred to the defendant via Tycoon Trading, The Daily Bread Fund, and related entities are presently estimated to be approximately $30 million to $34 million from 138 victim investors. By October 2022, although some money was distributed back to certain investors, the defendant had lost the majority of investments while trading, resulting in approximately $25 million in losses to
victims.

Garrett Elder agreed to the government filing an information charging him with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the
U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors

If  you believe you are a victim of Garrett Elder’s investment scheme, please contact the FBI at: (907) 276-4441

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael J. Heyman and Seth Beausang of the Alaska United States Attorney’s Office are prosecuting the case.

An information is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law