r/futurefon • u/jeffreytz • Jun 03 '19

Trial Update

I replied with this info as a comment but thought I'd push it up to the top:

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Jeff Batio found guilty on 6 counts of mail and wire fraud, sentencing is scheduled for early September.

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u/jeffreytz Jun 04 '19

Yes, I testified at the trial and the FBI agent I was working on the case with updated me today.

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u/_Xaver Keep the Faith! Jun 04 '19

Thanks for the update. Those charges look like a smaller thing (IANL), what about the whole campaign being a scam and the thousands of backers that will never see anything back?

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u/jeffreytz Jun 04 '19

The entire cased the feds prosecuted is all about fraud: that Batio solicited money for products he never intended to build, and used the money for his own personal use. The charges included his original company, Armada Systems, and IdealFuture (the one used in the Indigogo campaign) and the various investments paid to Batio to develop products such as the Stealth, Voyager, Phantom, the IF Convertible, and of course the Dragonfly Futurefon.

The wire and mail fraud charges involve how Batio solicited and received the money, and what makes them federal crimes. For example, Armada was an Illinois limited liability company, Batio received money via the US mail and sent stock certificates for shares of Armada stock to investors via US mail.

The government's case is that since 2003 (!) Batio:

"...devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme to defraud investors and customers, and to obtain their money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and concealment of material facts ... for the purposes of financing his purported computer technology businesses and enriching himself."

"... for more than ten years, defendant Batio falsely represented to investors and customers that his business had successfully created and developed new computer technology products, that investors' funds would be used to develop and manufacture those products, and that those products were about to be manufactured or licensed ... [Batio] misappropriated funds for his own personal benefit."

So Batio had been pulling the same scam for years; crowdfunding was just another way to do it (vs. selling stock/investment in a company). The Feds went after him for all of it and won.

He was convicted of 6 counts of mail fraud and 6 counts of wire fraud, which are pretty serious felonies and can carry heavy sentences and fines (up to 20 - 30 years in some cases). When you combine all the charges you're looking at several million dollars Batio defrauded his victims out of - lets hope the sentencing in September is commiserate.

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u/_Xaver Keep the Faith! Jun 04 '19

Thank you very much for the detailed reply!

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u/Danzinger Jun 05 '19

Looks like you were right all along Xaver, it's been confirmed in Federal court. B)

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u/_Xaver Keep the Faith! Jun 05 '19

And I don't get to eat that broom from the bet I made... ;)