INDIANAPOLIS — A Greenwood man has been indicted by a federal grand jury after he allegedly defrauded $14 million from an investor and spent the money on a horse farm, cars, Rolexes and escorts.
Daniel R. Fruits is also accused of attempted mortgage fraud and a vehicle title-washing scheme, according to a release from John E. Childress, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
“This financial investor gave his hard-earned money to someone whom he thought he could trust,” Childress said. “Instead, the victim’s money ended up in the hands of a self-absorbed thief who only cared about his interests. Living a life of fraud is inexcusable and always comes to an end.”
Court documents said a Kentucky investor founded a trucking company, Secure Transit, in 2015 and hired Fruits to operate it. The investor put approximately $14 million in the business over the next four-and-a-half years.
Fruits is accused of repeatedly lying about the company's health, who its customers were and how the money was being invested.
"On multiple occasions, Fruits allegedly sent the investor fictitious customer sales contracts and falsified financial statements that reported inflated company profits," the release said. "At the same time, Fruits allegedly asked the investor for additional investments, sometimes in the millions of dollars, purportedly for the purchase of trucks or other business expenses."
Fruits allegedly spent approximately $880,000 to purchase a horse farm and his personal residence, $560,000 on an RV and trailer, more than $11,000 on a Chevrolet Corvette, approximately $90,000 on three Rolex watches, approximately $55,000 on a horse, $33,000 on a horse trailer, $23,000 on payments on two Ferraris and $30,000 on payments for two escorts.
Fruits is also accused of attempting to perpetuate a mortgage fraud scheme against Fifth Third Bank. He allegedly made false statements to the bank to secure a $432,000 mortgage and twice falsified paperwork purporting to show that loans from another bank had been paid off when they had not.
The indictment also alleges Fruits ran a title-washing scheme to remove a bank's lien from the title of a truck he purchased. Fruits financed the truck with a loan from Ally Financial for more than $69,000. He allegedly later sent the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles a falsified letter purportedly from Ally Financial that said the loan had been paid off and the lien should be released.
"The loan had not been paid off and Ally Financial never wrote that letter," the news release said. "As a result, the BMV issued Fruits a free-and-clear title for the truck, which Fruits then sold for $48,000, without repaying the loan to Ally Financial."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
