SPOKANE, Wash.- A federal court sentenced Ronald Walter Hannes, a Spokane resident, to five years of probation after finding him guilty of defrauding his investors of over $3 million.
From 2012 to 2020, Hannes Financial Services received nearly 300 checks from investors. Hannes told over 20 clients to invest in bonds which never actually existed, and would simply offer investors a payout if an investor wanted their money back.
The scheme was propped-up by falsified account documents and promises by Hannes to investors that their bond and securities investments were legitimate.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington Vanessa Waldref offered a scathing reflection on the fraudulent business practices.
“Hannes’s clients trusted him with their hard-earned money and expected him to safeguard it. Instead, Mr. Hannes pulled them into a fraudulent scheme to enrich himself and leave his investors with nothing,” Waldref said.
FBI investigators handled the investigation, which was then handed to the Department of Justice for prosecution.
Hannes will not serve time in prison, but will serve half-a-decade of probation and is required to sell his home and pay restitution costs to victims.
