2 Lubbock Men Indicted with Brooklynn Chandler Willy for Allegedly Defrauding Hundreds of Victims

SAN ANTONIO – Two Lubbock men made their initial appearances in a federal court in San Antonio today after a federal grand jury returned an indictment on July 2 charging them for their alleged roles in a massive Ponzi fraud scheme with co-defendant Brooklynn Chandler Willy of San Antonio.

According to the indictment, Joshua Allen and Michael Cox jointly owned and controlled four investment companies: Ferrum Capital LLC, Ferrum II LLC, Ferrum III LLC, and Ferrum IV LLC. Allen, Cox, Willy and others acting at their direction, solicited victims to invest in these entities.  Willy, who was arrested in December on separate obstruction and fraud charges, was the owner of Chandler Capital Holdings and Queen B Advisory LLC doing business as Texas Financial Advisory (TFA). Among other services, TFA purported to provide asset management and financial planning services.

The indictment alleges that Allen, Cox and Willy misled the victims concerning the security of the investments and concealed their high commissions. Additionally, Allen and Cox allegedly lied about the nature of the investments. Hundreds of victims collectively lost millions of dollars. Much of that money went to pay earlier investor-victims, thereby concealing the scheme and attracting additional victims. Much of the money also directly benefitted the now indicted co-conspirators and their associates.

Allen, Cox, and Willy are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and one count of securities fraud.

Allen and Cox made their initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad. If convicted on all charges, they face up to 70 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The FBI and IRS-CI are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Blackwell and Kelly Stephenson are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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