April 23, 2012
Department of Justice
United States Attorney William C. Killian Eastern District of Tennessee
Kingsport Securities Broker Sentenced to Nine Years in Federal Prison for Fraud and Money Laundering
GREENEVILLE, Tenn.-- Mark Edward Salyer, 48, of Kingsport, Tenn., was sentenced in U.S. District Court at Greeneville, on April 20, 2012, to serve nine years in prison and pay $6,713,364.37 restitution, by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge.
Salyer pleaded guilty on September 28, 2011, to an indictment charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Salyer, a licensed securities broker with MetLife Securities, bilked millions of dollars from his MetLife clients between 2005 and 2007 to finance a development project in Alabama and real estate ventures in east Tennessee. When his own and investors’ funds ran out, he forged clients’ names to documents which transferred their money out of MetLife securities and into limited liability corporations (LLCs) he had established for the purpose of laundering the money. Other clients were led to believe the LLCs were safe MetLife Securities accounts, so they would transfer their money into those corporations. Salyer then used this money to fund his own developments, all of which ultimately failed for lack of funds. MetLife replaced the stolen funds for Salyer’s clients.
"Those entrusted with other people's money, must comply with the law. Just as in this case, the misappropriation of funds will receive the full cooperative and investigative efforts of federal law enforcement agencies," said U.S. Attorney Bill Killian.
"As the public has seen, these types of financially motivated crimes wreak havoc on the American citizen and our communities. We are committed to aggressively investigate those associated with these types of schemes," stated Christopher A. Henry, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation-Nashville Field Office.
The indictment and subsequent conviction of Salyer was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr represented the United States.
