North Carolina man gets over 3 years in prison for defrauding 64 Maryland investors

MARYLAND (WBFF) — A North Carolina man was sentenced for investment fund theft after stealing from at least 64 investors in Maryland, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Hunter Haithcock, 25, also known as Hunter Elliott, was sentenced to 3.5 years, followed by 2 years of supervised release, for committing wire fraud and investment adviser fraud.

Haithcock must also pay $655,498.93 in restitution and forfeiture, authorities reported.

From September 2019 through October 2022, court documents reveal that Haithcock stole at least $655,498.93 after he deceptively claimed he worked for a company with a registered investment advisor.

Haithcock then told victims that if they invested with him, he would guarantee their investment principal and provide significant returns, according to court documents.

Officials said Haithcock routinely provided investors with fabricated reports showing their portfolio gains, but he created the documents to perpetuate and conceal his scheme.

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Instead of investing his clients’ investment fund, officials said Haithcock stole from them, then put the money into accounts he controlled, and used the funds for his own purposes.

He used the stolen money to pay credit card bills, meals, entertainment, car payments, and travel expenses such as hotels and flights, and to trade cryptocurrency.

Haithcock would meet with the victims in various ways, such as through a local church or by word-of-mouth referrals, and would represent himself as Hunter Elliott, a licensed securities broker for the company he claimed to work for.

But officials reported that Haithcock was never employed by the company or any broker-dealer, never held a license to trade securities, and does not know the registered investment advisor he claimed to work for.

Furthermore, Haithcock promised investors that their investment principal was protected from loss, regardless of market performance or the size of their initial investment.

Some victims invested tens of thousands of dollars while others invested $10,000 or less, according to the report.

Haithcock also frequently lied about future projected performance of anticipated investments.

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Once victims invested with Haithcock, he would routinely provide them with fraudulent “Statement Reports,” often on a weekly or biweekly basis, which purported to show each investor’s portfolio value and stock trades, among other things.

When investors requested the return of their funds, Haithcock would fabricate excuses for not returning them.

He would use a small portion of the funds he received from other investors to pay back a few of them, but officials stated that most victims received nothing.

Eventually, Haithcock stopped returning calls or messages from the victims.

Haithcock will now spend the next 3.5 years years in prison for these crimes.