Cheryl Broussard Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Cheryl D. Broussard, 63, of Miami, Florida, entered a plea of guilty on August 14, 2019, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, to a federal indictment charging her with wire fraud.  Sentencing has been set for January 16, 2020, at ­­­­­­­2:00 p.m., in United States District Court in Knoxville.  Broussard faces a term of up to 20 years in prison.

In a written plea agreement, Broussard admitted to entering into an investment agreement with Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc., a national business and professional women’s sorority, through which she would manage $100,000 of the sorority’s funds in securities.  She told the sorority that she was employed at Contenta Capital Group, and falsely claimed that she was a registered investment advisor.  Broussard sent periodic reports, containing fabricated information, to the sorority concerning the status of their investments.  Rather than investing the funds, however, Broussard converted the money to her own use.

This prosecution was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Trial Attorneys Tracee Plowell and Michelle Pascucci, of the U.S. Department of Justice, Fraud Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Frank M. Dale, Jr., represented the United States.

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