Arlington, Virginia - A Virginia man was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in prison for his involvement in a fraud scheme resulting in millions of dollars of losses to investors.
Daniel Boice, 41, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud on Dec. 3, 2020. According to court documents, beginning in 2015, Boice fraudulently solicited investments in Trustify, an Arlington-based company that Boice promoted as the “Uber” of private investigator services. Boice raised more than $18 million from over 250 individual and corporate investors by, among other things, falsely overstating Trustify’s financial performance. To secure investor capital, Boice inflated Trustify’s monthly and annual revenues in detailed fraudulent financial statements and investor presentations, and he fabricated large corporate business relationships to support his false statements about Trustify’s growth. In addition, Boice created a fake email account to pose as a prominent potential investor, and he then used the account to send a fraudulent email to successfully convince an investment firm to invest nearly $2 million in Trustify.
Boice also made false statements to investors about the amount of investor funds that he would personally receive, while diverting a substantial amount of the investor money to his own benefit. Boice personally derived at least $3.7 million in proceeds from the fraud, including several million dollars in transfers from Trustify to bank accounts under his control and in personal charges on credit cards paid with Trustify funds. Boice diverted Trustify funds, for example, to secure the down payment on a $1.6 million house in Alexandria and a $1 million beach house in New Jersey, as well as to pay for a chauffeur, house manager, and various luxury items. Boice also used Trustify funds to pay for family vacations, private jet trips, and over $100,000 for premium seats at sporting events.
In 2019, faced with declining revenues and the consequences of Boice’s diversion of company assets for his personal expenditures, Trustify was placed into corporate receivership by the Delaware Chancery Court. The company’s collapse led to over $18 million in losses to investors and over $250,000 in unpaid wages and associated costs for Trustify’s employees.
Additionally, Boice was ordered to pay $18,131,742.21 in restitution and forfeit $3.7 million.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh of the Eastern District of Virginia; and Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division made the announcement.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case with assistance from the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Trial Attorney Blake Goebel of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell L. Carlberg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.
