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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Man accused of commodity fraud against appeals judge: Allegedly told Judge Elaine Brown he could turn $10,000 into $1 million"

That is the headline to this story today by Lydia McCoy in the Evansville Courier & Press. More:

DUBOIS COUNTY, Ind. — A Cincinnati man is being held in the Vanderburgh County Jail on commodity fraud charges alleging that he took $10,000 from Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Elaine Brown after promising to turn it into $1 million within a year.

Robert Buchanan, 54, has been charged with commodity fraud, sale of a commodity contract and failure to register as a commodity merchant, all class C felonies. A class C felony carries a prison term of two to eight years upon conviction.

Brown is a former Dubois Superior Court judge and had practiced law in Jasper and Evansville before her appointment in 2008 to the Indiana Court of Appeals by Gov. Mitch Daniels. Recently she made an unsuccessful bid to fill a vacancy on the Indiana Supreme Court.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Brown and Buchanan met in September. Buchanan was doing business as Buchanan Trading, and on Dec. 24 Brown entered into an agreement with him for investment purposes. In conjunction with the agreement, Brown wrote a check for $10,000 to Buchanan Trading.

"The memo line of the check states 'Deposit into my trading account.' The back of the check was endorsed by Buchanan," according to the report. But Buchanan allegedly deposited the check into an account belonging to his son and ex-wife without their knowledge or authorization.

According to the report, the National Futures Association, which handles the licensing and registration for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Buchanan applied to become a commodity trading adviser in 2000. On Jan. 24, 2001, the association abandoned Buchanan's application because of deficiencies.

"As such, Buchanan and Buchanan Trading have never been registered with the NFA and the CTFC. Additionally, Buchanan never disclosed to Brown that he is not registered to sell a commodity contract," according to the report.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 14, 2010 08:11 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts