FORT SMITH - A Rogers man charged in federal court in a million-dollar investment scam earlier this year has pleaded guilty in the case to charges of mail fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Allen Wichtendahl, 61, was charged initially in a 36-count indictment and was to go on trial before a jury Nov. 4 in Fayetteville with his co-defendant and wife, Diana Stewart.
According to the plea agreement Wichtendahl reached with the government, the charges against Stewart are to be dismissed at Wichtendahl’s sentencing.
Wichtendahl has been held in the Washington County jail since the couple’s arrest Jan. 10. Stewart is free on a $15,000 bond.
Wichtendahl could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on each fraud count and up to 10 years for money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. A sentencing date will be set on the completion of a pre-sentencing investigation, which can take six to eight weeks to complete.
The two were charged with offenses regarding Wichtendahl’s New Vision Technology, in which they were accused of luring people to invest in fictitious Amway and tractor-export businesses in Bulgaria and a power plant construction project and a cassava processing plant in Nigeria, both nonexistent. Cassava is a versatile tuber used mostly for food.
Wichtendahl misled the investors about the financial stability of the company by sending out monthly reports inflating projected revenue while withholding that he had been convicted of two felony fraud offenses in Florida, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Local and federal law enforcement began investigating the couple in June 2011 when an employee at the New Vision Technology office in Rogers went to Rogers police and told them about the illegal enterprise.
Court records showed more than 100 people from around the country invested more than $1 million over three years on the promise of hefty returns and in the belief that their investments were goingto support those projects. Government investigators learned many of the investors were elderly who invested in New Vision Technology to build their retirement nest eggs.
The government says Wichtendahl and Stewart spent the bulk of the money on themselves.
Records showed the couple used the money to rent two houses in Bentonville for themselves and Stewart’s son. Records also show they used the investors’ money for such things as cars, jewelry, clothing, child-support payments, dental services, fitness club membership, wedding expenses and equipment for Stewart’s son to start a mowing business.
As part of the plea agreement, Wichtendahl agreed to forfeit more than $93,000 that the government seized from accounts Wichtendahl held in four banks in Arkansas and Florida.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 10/25/2013