Source: Office of United States Attorneys
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a man who ran a refrigerant-based Ponzi scheme for almost a decade to 14 months in prison and ordered him to repay $287,000 to victims.
From October 2014 to May of 2017, Robert F. Rothluebbers, now 68, solicited investments by falsely claiming that he would use the money to purchase R-22 refrigerant in bulk, at a discount, and then re-sell the refrigerant to contractors and others at a 50% profit. Rothluebbers claimed that the gradual phaseout of R-22 would enable him to increase investors’ profits.
Rothluebbers used investors’ money for personal purchases and to pay relatives. He also kept the scheme alive by paying old investors with money from new investors and by repeatedly making false promises that he would return the victims’ money. He then provided bogus excuses for failing to pay his investors, including a claim that the money had been frozen by his financial institution and the Internal Revenue Service. Many of Rothluebbers’ victims were semi-retired and living on fixed incomes. His scheme also forced them to pay considerable sums of money on civil lawsuits and attorneys’ fees in an attempt to reclaim their money.
In all, Rothluebbers raised at least $350,000 from four investors and he never repaid the majority of these funds.
Rothluebbers pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud.
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.