Scam Defendant Accused of Starting New Fraud to Pay Lawyer in First Case
Prosecutors say a Colorado man paid the lawyer defending him in an investment scam with funds from a new scheme started while he was being prosecuted in the first case.
Hamilton Alan Bird was indicted in the new case on Tuesday, according to the Denver Post and the Colorado Springs Gazette. He is already serving a 24-year prison sentence in the first case after entering a guilty plea in March 2008.
The indictment (PDF) doesn’t identify the defense lawyer. It claims Bird collected $690,000 in the second scam and used part of the money to buy furniture, make car payments and pay his lawyer.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a statement after the indictment. “This case is remarkable not only for the breadth and the number of investors affected, but also because Mr. Bird perpetrated a portion of this fraud while criminal proceedings were pending against him in a securities fraud case brought by the Attorney General’s Office,” he said.
