A federal grand jury has indicted an Ellicott City man on 23 charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud investors in an obesity treatment clinic, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod Rosenstein announced Thursday.
The June 21 indictment was unsealed Thursday after the arrest of Wilkins McNair Jr., 48.
The indictment charges that McNair, a certified public accountant and the owner of Wilkins McNair P.C., an accounting firm with offices formerly located in Baltimore, provided services to several investors ? including a surgeon and cardiologist ? who intended to open a clinic treating patients who suffered from morbid obesity.
The original group of investors incorporated themselves under the name M.O.M. Investment Group Inc., according to prosecutors.
Between March 2004 and October 2005, five investors provided nearly $1.6 million to M.O.M. and McNair, prosecutors said.
McNair misappropriated approximately $1.3 million of the $1.6 million entrusted to his care by the M.O.M. investors, the indictment alleges.
The maximum penalty on each of the indictment?s 12 wire fraud charges is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The maximum penalty on each of the indictment?s 11 money-laundering charges is 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
