Fredericksburg Man Pleads Guilty for Investment Fraud Scheme Related to Quantico Corporate Center at Stafford

RICHMOND, Va. –James Ashby Moncure, Jr., 42, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to charges of Wire Fraud and Engaging in Unlawful Monetary Transactions. 

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office; Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and David M. McGinnis, Acting Postal Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Moncure was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 7, 2014.  He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 15, 2015. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Moncure agreed that, as a partial owner of Moncure Brothers LLC, he had partnered with The Silver Companies to develop property known as the Quantico Corporate Center at Stafford (QCCS), a business park located in Stafford County, Va., along Interstate 95 and US 1, adjacent to Marine Corps Base Quantico.  Beginning prior to January 2010 and continuing through March 2014, Moncure solicited individuals for investment opportunities in exchange for short term promissory notes offering returns ranging from 10 percent up to 25 percent.  In connection with those investments, Moncure claimed that the investment funds would be used for acquiring and developing land for the QCCS or another specified property.  He also made misrepresentations about how the promised returns would be generated and the security of investment funds. 

Instead, Moncure misappropriated a significant amount of investor funds for payment of returns to earlier investors and transfers to investment trading accounts from which he day-traded stocks and options.  For the Wire Fraud transaction in Count Four, Moncure admitted receiving $200,000 from investor T.S. on January 28, 2014.  The defendant had promised T.S. that the money would be used to expand and enhance the QCCS and to purchase land.  In reality, on January 29, 2014, Moncure wire transferred $190,000 of T.S.’s funds to his own Options Express, Inc. trading account, where the money was used for his stock trading activities.  He followed the same pattern for the Engaging in Unlawful Monetary Transactions charge in Count Seven.  After receiving $800,000 in QCCS investment monies from investor C.C. on June 6, 2013, Moncure transferred those same funds to his Options Express, Inc. trading account on June 7, 2013.  He then used C.C.’s funds for his stock trading activities, as opposed to investment into the QCCS.

This case was investigated by FBI’s Fredericksburg Resident Agency, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gill and Katherine Martin are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

This investigation has been coordinated by the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force, an unprecedented partnership between criminal investigators and civil regulators to investigate and prosecute complex financial fraud cases in the nation and in Virginia.  The task force is comprised of several federal and state agencies, including the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and it also serves as an investigative arm of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), an interagency national task force.  For more information on FFETF, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:14-cr-137.