FORMER FINANCIAL ADVISOR SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS PRISON FOR MONEY LAUNDERING

(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) –  A former Kingsville area financial advisor who has admitted to defrauding his clients to his advantage and their detriment has been sentenced to federal prison for money laundering and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today,

Douglas Eugene Vannoy, 58, of Kingsville, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Hayden Head for laundering the proceeds of bank and mail fraud arising from a scheme he devised to defraud his clients and benefit himself. Indicted for mail and bank fraud and money laundering in May 2010, Vannoy pleaded guilty to the money laundering charge, the most serious of the offenses charged, in January 2011.  Today, Judge Head sentenced Vannoy to 60 months in federal custody followed by three years of supervised release and further ordered Vannoy to pay restitution in the amount of $93,995.50 to his victims.  

At his re-arraignment hearing in January, Vannoy admitted engaging in a financial transaction to disguise the nature, location, source, ownership or control of the proceeds of mail and bank fraud. Vannoy further admitted that between November 2006 and April 2009, he, in his role as a financial advisor, presented fraudulent requests to have checks drawn on one of his client’s accounts issued in the name of “Advantage Marketing.” These checks were mailed to a P.O. Box in Corpus Christi rented by Vannoy. The checks were later deposited into a bank account opened by Vannoy in the name of “Advantage Marketing” and under his control. He also admitted using a former client’s name and Social Security account number without permission to open an additional account to facilitate the fraud and assist in the laundering of the proceeds. 

In fashioning the sentence he ultimately handed down, Judge Head specifically noted that the victim was elderly and in failing health, Vannoy was in a position of trust, the scheme was sophisticated and the thefts continued over a period of years. 

Immediately following today’s hearing, Vannoy, who had been free on bond, was ordered into the custody of the United States Marshals Service to begin serving his sentence pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in near future. 
                       
The investigation leading to the charges, conviction and today’s sentence was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. Thorpe Jr. prosecuted the case.

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