GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- A former Grand Blanc-based financial advisor and the former owner of the Jewel of Grand Blanc golf course has been charged for allegedly devising a scheme to trick elderly people into investing in a fictitious investment opportunity.
Mark Hopkins, 53, was arraigned Thursday, Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on charges of devising and executing a scheme to obtain money by means of false material promises and representations from elderly investors.
Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin announced Hopkin’s charges in a Wednesday, Feb. 10 news release.
Hopkins is accused of devising a scheme to trick two sets of elderly investors into giving him more than $1 million to invest in a fictitious investment opportunity through a local credit union, according to the criminal indictment. To make the investment opportunity appear legitimate, Hopkins provided the elderly investors fake account statements after he deposited their funds into his bank account associated with the Jewel of Grand Blanc golf course.
After misappropriating $750,000 from the first set of elderly investors, Hopkins deceived the second set of elderly investors into withdrawing $400,000 from their brokerage account, the news release states. Hopkins misappropriated the second pair’s money by using some of their funds to provide a partial “investment return” to the first set of investors. He used a doctored check in an attempt to convince the New York based brokerage that he worked with that he had returned all the money to the second set of investors.
“Seniors are some of our most vulnerable citizens,” United States Attorney Mohsin said in a statement. “We are committed to protecting them from those who seek to steal their hard-earned savings. I applaud the law enforcement agencies and elder services agencies for their dedicated work on these cases.”
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt and the defendant is presumed innocent and the burden is on the government to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the news release states.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI in cooperation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Attorney Mohsin was joined in the announcement of the incitement by Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Detroit Division. The case is assigned to United States District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis.
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