In San Diego California, Mark Darren McClafferty Pled Guilty To Multiple Fraud Charges

usdoj.gov, Nov 21, 2005

Office Of The United States Attorney Southern District Of California, San Diego


News Release Summary
-April 18, 2005

United States Attorney Carol C. Lam announced that Mark Darren McClafferty pled guilty today to multiple fraud and money laundering charges arising from the operation of Commercial Express, LLC, an organization formerly headquartered in Los Angeles, which had boiler rooms in several U.S. cities, including San Diego, and which defrauded over 700 victims nationwide of over $18,000,000 through a sophisticated “Ponzi scheme.” McClafferty, of Bournemouth, England, and Los Angeles, California, entered his guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in San Diego, California, before the Honorable Napoleon A. Jones, Jr., admitting to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud, one count of Securities Fraud, six counts of Mail Fraud, three counts of Wire Fraud, one count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, four counts of Money Laundering, and two counts of Engaging in Monetary Transactions Greater than $10,000 in Criminally-Derived Property. McClafferty also admitted to the Criminal Forfeiture Allegations of the Indictment and agreed to forfeit $1,707,166.90. As an additional part of his plea agreement, McClafferty agreed to pay $18,667,124.00 in restitution to victims of the Commercial Express scheme across the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peak said that documents filed with the court and admissions by McClafferty established that McClafferty and the other operators of Commercial Express, along with the salespeople working for the boiler rooms, promised investors exorbitant returns on their investment. In order to generate interest in the investment scheme, Commercial Express actually paid large returns to a limited number of initial investors. However, contrary to the representations, these payments were not made from profits earned from products sales, from the funds of later purchasers of the Media Units.