Former Greenfield businessman gets 51 months in prison for Ponzi scheme

An insurance broker who admitted to defrauding investors of more than $1 million while operating a financial services business in Greenfield has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Bruce Ford, 50, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge James Sweeney ordered Ford to be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from prison. Ford also was ordered to pay nearly $1.1 million in restitution.

Ford, who was licensed as an insurance broker in Indiana beginning in 2008, founded Ford Financial and Insurance Services, 808 E. Main St., in Greenfield in 2012. Ford used the company to promote investment services to current and former insurance clients and others even though he had not registered himself or his company with the Indiana Securities Division, as required by law.

From January 2013 through December 2018, Ford stole about $1.2 million from at least 10 victims through a fraudulent investment and Ponzi scheme, according to investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana Secretary of State Securities Division.

Ford falsely claimed to be a financial adviser and promised clients that he could provide higher returns on their investments than they would otherwise yield from traditional investment products such as individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s. He convinced his clients to cash out of their retirement and other investment accounts and transfer the funds to self-directed individual retirement accounts.

Rather than invest the funds in real estate and business ventures as promised, Ford transferred the victims’ funds to his own personal bank accounts and used the money to pay his personal credit cards, and to purchase goods, services, a mobile home, land and a recreational vehicle.

Investigators said some of Fords’ victims were already retired or were approaching retirement and suffered substantial financial hardship.

Ford concealed his scheme for five years through a Ponzi scheme—using funds taken from some investors to pay purported returns to others.

“This defendant took advantage of the trust of Hoosier workers and retirees to steal the hard-earned savings intended to provide for the retirements they’d planned,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers in written remarks.