July 13, 11

NEWS / Former Edmond Man Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering in Scheme to Defraud Cycling Coach

Scheme Perpetrated After Defendant Is Barred By Court from Investing and While Facing Criminal Charges for a Separate Money Laundering Investment Scheme

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Today, MARK S. TRIMBLE, 45, formerly of Edmond, Oklahoma, pled guilty to money laundering in an investment scheme to defraud his cycling coach, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Trimble was a former investment manager who owned and operated Phidippides Capital Management, LLC (“Phidippides”), an Oklahoma limited liability company with offices in Edmond and Oklahoma City.

Trimble has had several prior legal proceedings which bear on the current case:

Trimble and Phidippides were sued in a civil action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in an action styled Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Mark S. Trimble, et al., Case No. CIV-09-154-D. In that case, the Court barred Trimble from engaging in commodity trading activity on March 6, 2009.
On March 11, 2010, Trimble was criminally charged with money laundering in Case No. CR-10-092-D (“Trimble I”) arising from financial investment scheme in 2007 where he diverted investor funds to his own account. On December 21, 2010, Trimble pled guilty in Trimble I and was sentenced to serve 120 months in federal prison and pay $9,045,451.23 in restitution to investors.

Nevertheless, from September of 2009 through January of 2011, Trimble engaged in a scheme to obtain money from his cycling coach to trade on the commodities market on behalf of the coach, but instead converted the money to his own use. This scheme was undertaken after Trimble had already been barred by the Court from engaging in commodity trading in March of 2009 and while he was currently facing criminal charges in Trimble I.

On April 20, 2011, Trimble was again indicted in case No. CR-11-132-F (“Trimble II”) and charged with money laundering in the scheme to defraud his cycling coach. Today, Trimble pled guilty to this new scheme and, as part of the plea, agreed to pay $40,000 in restitution. Trimble faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and mandatory restitution at sentencing in Trimble II. A sentencing date will be set by the Court in approximately 90 days. Trimble is currently serving his 120 month prison sentence on Trimble I.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Dickerson Cox.

http://www.fbi.gov/oklahomacity/press-releases/2011/former-edmond-man-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering-in-scheme-to-defraud-cycling-coach-scheme-perpetrated-after-defendant-is-barred-by-court-from-investing-and-while-facing-criminal-charges-for-a-separate-money-laundering-investment-scheme

Tags: criminal investigation,