A Flathead County man accused of stealing more than $2 million from investors in a Ponzi scheme was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in U.S. District Court on Aug. 3.
A jury found John Kevin Moore guilty of 21 different counts after a five-day trial in Great Falls. Moore will be sentenced in November.
According to court records and testimony at a 2016 show-cause hearing, Moore established two different businesses – Big Sky Mineral Resources, LLC and Glacier Gala – and collected $2.7 million from 36 different investors. Moore allegedly made payments to earlier investments with the money from new investors.
Records suggest he spent about $1.4 million himself, including withdrawing nearly $800,000 in cash and spending more than $400,000 on mortgage and escrow payments for two homes in Bigfork.
According to documents, Big Sky Mineral Resources was created to obtain oil and gas leases and other mining-related operations. Glacier Gala was created to obtain and sell lucrative pieces of art.
State and federal law enforcement began investigating Moore in 2016 and his accounts were frozen.
The Associated Press reported in 2016 that Moore had previous convictions for defrauding a person of $75,000 in a “gold coin scheme,” defrauding someone else in the sale of a painting and for writing bad checks.