Ohio broker found guilty in fraud scam

December 6, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — A jury has found a Northeast Ohio securities broker guilty of 68 felonies in a fraud scheme that cost Akron homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars, Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers announced Friday.

David Willan, 38, of Akron, was owner and president of Evergreen Investment Corp. and Evergreen Homes. Between 2002 and 2006, the investment business sold high-yield securities that were to pay for construction of moderately priced homes to those with trouble securing mortgages. However, investigators say Willan violated Ohio securities law by making false statements in his company’s offering circular, a document relied on by investors.

Willan was charged in December 2007 along with 16 others in a 147-count indictment. Six co-defendants have pleaded guilty to various offenses in the case, including Willan’s former investment sales manager Daniel Mohler. The rest are scheduled for trail in 2009.

Willan’s attorney William Whit- aker said the jury was looking for a scapegoat and that he would appeal.

“There wasn’t a shred of evidence that David Willan engaged in any criminal activity,” he said. “He did everything his lawyers advised him to do. He went above and beyond everything that the Division of Securities [of the Ohio Department of Commerce] asked of him.”

The jury decision came after a two-year effort to break up an elaborate mortgage and securities fraud plot, Rogers said in a joint statement with Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh.