A Denver man who was facing more than a dozen charges related to defrauding 29 investors — including some professional athletes — accepted a plea deal earlier this month that will likely see him sentenced to just over three years in prison.
Ian Gregory Bell, 36, was indicted in December 2024 on 18 charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Security and Exchanges Commission. In court on May 8, he pleaded guilty to two of the counts that involve wire fraud and money laundering.
He will also be liable to pay restitution to the 29 victims. The exact amount will be determined prior to sentencing, but he’s expected to have to pay around $1.2 million. The professional athletes were not named in the complaint or the plea agreement.
The plea agreement states that Bell served as an investment adviser and obtained roughly $1.2 million from investors between 2020 and 2023. He told them that he could earn significant returns with low risk.
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CO man charged with defrauding dozens, including pro athletes, in scheme
However, within days or weeks of receiving funds, he either spent or lost the money. Despite this, he told investors that their accounts had grown and sent screenshots of fabricated gains.
He also said to investors that he would not take out any fees until they were ready to withdraw funds and would take them from their profits, when in fact he took out a portion of the funds for personal gain before investing the money.
When investors began demanding their money back, he provided several excuses and in some cases fabricated email addresses and sent investors fake email correspondence so they would believe they would be getting money soon.
In other cases, he would mail investors checks that they were unable to cash due to insufficient funds or missing information.
Bell used the money from investors to pay his girlfriend’s credit card bill and send money to his mother.
He will be sentenced Aug. 1.
