After a nine-month government investigation triggered by a whistleblower, a Fishers hedge fund manager has agreed to plead guilty to bilking investors out of more than $7 million.
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Federal officials will announce today that Keenan Hauke — once a high-profile financial adviser on cable TV and in the Indianapolis Business Journal — has been charged with committing securities fraud through his Samex Capital Partners and Samex Capital Advisors.
In a 15-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis late Tuesday, federal investigators say the 40-year-old Hauke ran a Ponzi scheme that used money from new investors to pay returns to earlier investors.
The financial adviser, once considered by trusting investors as “an honest and all-American guy,” wrote bogus account statements so investors wouldn’t suspect his deceptions, according to the complaint.
Under the plea agreement, assistant U.S. attorneys Steve DeBrota and Nicholas Surmacz said their office will recommend Hauke receive a prison sentence of 14 to 171/2 years. Hauke has agreed to make restitution. However, it is not clear how much of the missing money is recoverable.
Hauke’s initial court appearance is expected to be scheduled within a few days.
State and federal agents and a receiver appointed in Hamilton Superior Court are combing through financial records to nail down the value of Hauke’s assets, including his home in Fishers, more than 1,100 gold and silver coins and a condominium in Barbados.
Court-appointed receiver William Wendling is hunting down gold and silver coins that Hauke used to pay legal fees and other expenses.
The investors are not named in the court documents. Court records show they lost amounts ranging from $58 to $407,000, for a total of $7,022,020.12. Most individual losses are in the range of $50,000 to $150,000.
Hauke and his attorney, Joval Scott, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. But victims have begun to speak out.
Wayne Pomanowski, a New Jersey state tax commissioner, lost a six-figure amount he invested in Samex. He said he invested with Hauke because he trusted him and knew his family.
“We’re suspicious of everyone in New Jersey, but Keenan was an all-American kid. You never heard him curse. He was a swimmer and an athlete in great physical condition,” Pomanowski said.
“He got me some base hits” with investments for several years beginning in 2004, Pomanowski said. “There was no reason not to trust the guy.”
But now Pomanowski runs the website Samexsurvivors.com and has heard from many other bitter victims.
“I’ve heard people say they lost everything. At least one guy in Colorado lost his home. He’s broke,” Pomanowski said. “We were all bamboozled. We call it Scamex.”
The investigation into Hauke and Samex Capital began in April with a tip from then-employee Scott Noble, who said he had become concerned about irregularities.
Hauke initially tried to brush off Noble’s claims as the finger-pointing of a disgruntled ex- employee who left to form his own financial firm.
The FBI and U.S. attorney now call Hauke’s actions a massive fraud perpetrated on 67 investors over seven years, beginning in 2004.
In a Ponzi scheme, the government charges, he used money from new investors to pay earlier ones. Authorities allege Hauke used money from the investors to pay the mortgage on his house.
In 2004 and 2005, he allegedly restructured the fund’s bank accounts, which made it more difficult for investors to determine the true financial health of the fund or whether he was investing their money in securities.
Without telling investors, he used about $4 million to buy property in Michigan, some of it now considered worthless, authorities said.
In 2006 and 2007, he allegedly became aware some of the Michigan properties had no value and some had been sold at tax sales, but he continued to mislead investors with reports showing their money was gaining value.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said in a statement that dozens of Hoosier families were affected by the $7 million scam. “This office takes very seriously any allegation that Hoosiers have been swindled out of their hard-earned money,” Hogsett said
