A 48-year-old Missouri man was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to repay over $650,000 after he defrauded investors over a six-year span. Elijah A. Goshert was sentenced Wednesday after being found guilty of defrauding investors in the “Magellan Sports Fund,” according to a U.S. Attorney's Office release.
According to the report, Goshert claimed to use a “sophisticated computer algorithm” that could reduce betting risks, all the while sending falsified performance updates to clients and spending investments on unauthorized expenses.
Goshert is said to have stolen approximately $654,861 from at least 12 victims.
“Scamming people who trust you is especially loathsome,” said Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Unfortunately, the way Elijah Goshert targeted his victims is not unique. When white-collar criminals exploit the trust that already exists within their social circles, it’s known as affinity fraud.”
Victim suffers emotional and psychological damage
In court, according to the release, Assistant U.S. Attourney Derek Wiseman described the effort as “a yearslong sophisticated scheme,” as opposed to a “one-off lapse in judgment.” One of Goshert's victims, in letters, claimed to lose upwards of $60,000, in addition to spending over $20,000 in legal fees trying to recoup his lost funds.
Another client, said to have invested $50,000, shared he suffered severe emotional and psychological damage due to chronic anxiety and stress and the betrayal of trust by what he described as a close friend. Goshert reportedly lied to the victim repeatedly, claiming an inablity to access money and falsely contending he’d sold the fund to a private equity firm.
