Convicted Conman Found Guilty Again
| U.S. Attorney’s OfficeFebruary 23, 2012 |
A man who defrauded numerous people out of thousands of dollars while on supervised release for a prior fraud conviction was convicted by a jury on February 22, 2012, after a seven-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Donald K. Washburn, from Linn County, was convicted of 28 counts of wire fraud, five counts of money laundering, and 13 counts of making false statements to the United States Probation Office. The verdicts were returned in the afternoon of February 22, 2012, following about 10 hours of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed Washburn falsely claimed he owned three mines, iron ore, and other valuable minerals. Washburn sought people to invest in the mines or minerals and used their investments for his own personal benefit. Washburn also falsely claimed he owned a casino dice game and sold exclusive licensing rights to the dice game to his victims. Portions of both the mining and dice game schemes occurred while Washburn was on federal supervised release for a prior fraud conviction. During the period of supervised release, Washburn was required to file monthly financial report forms to the United States Probation Office. Washburn’s monthly reports were false because he failed to disclose financial transactions related to his fraudulent mining and dice game schemes.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Washburn was ordered into the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Washburn faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment on each count of wire fraud, up to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count of money laundering, and up to five years’ imprisonment on each false statement count. Washburn also faces a fine of up to twice the amount of his financial gain, twice the amount of financial loss to his victims, or $250,000 per count of conviction.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew J. Cole and was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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