Pastor and pal indicted over fraudulent financial planning
Larry Holley and Patricia Gray are defendants in parallel SEC civil action.
A federal court in Michigan has unsealed an indictment charging Larry A. Holley of Grand Blanc, Mich., and Patricia Enright of Flint, Mich., with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
The two are currently defendants in a parallel enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the indictment, Mr. Holley, who is a pastor at Abundant Life Ministries in Flint, Mich., operated Treasure Enterprise, which fraudulently purported to provide financial planning and asset management services to investors. Mr. Holley and Ms. Enright solicited many of the victim investors at financial seminars held at churches throughout Michigan and other states, the SEC said in a release.
The indictment alleges that to lure potential investors, many of whom took their money out of legitimate investments such as individual retirement 401(k) accounts, Mr. Holley and Ms. Enright promised high, guaranteed returns, and the safe return of an investor’s entire principal at the end of the investment period.
The SEC said that the money was not invested, but simply deposited into Treasure’s bank accounts and used for the personal benefit of Mr. Holley and Ms. Enright, for the benefit of Abundant Life Ministries, to make interest and principal payments to earlier investors, and to pay other Treasure employees.
On March 28, 2017, the SEC filed an emergency action against the two and obtained a temporary restraining order freezing their assets and those of Treasure, as well as appointing a receiver.
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