Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Connecticut

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Former New Canaan Resident Sentenced to 33 Months in Federal Prison for Defrauding Investors

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN B. JEFFREY, also known as TUCKER JEFFREY, 49, formerly of New Canaan, Conn., and currently a resident of Denver, Colo., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 33 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for defrauding investors of more than $1.3 million.

According to court documents and statements made in court, JEFFREY offered individuals the opportunity to invest in Anchor Shipping and Trading, and Southern Cross Shipping, representing to victims that the companies were organized in the Marshall Islands, were engaged in the cargo shipping business, and had long-term contracts that would support a profitable international shipping business.  The shipping companies were entirely fictitious.  Instead of using invested funds as he had promised, JEFFREY used the vast majority of the money for his personal expenses, including paying for the mortgage on his New Canaan home, tuition at private schools, country club dues, and home renovation and landscaping costs.

 As part of the scheme, JEFFREY created bogus documents that represented that certain well-known executives in the international shipping business were involved with the companies when, in fact, those executives had no such involvement.  He also e-mailed and telephoned his victims falsely representing that the companies were profitable, that the victims would soon be receiving distributions from their investments, and to reassure victims when payments were delayed.

Judge Bolden ordered JEFFREY to pay $919,500 in restitution to the victims of this scheme.  JEFFREY paid back certain victims after he found out about the FBI investigation, but required those victims to sign “settlement” agreements purporting to settle claims related to the fictitious companies.

On March 24, 2016, JEFFREY pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines.