Retired Arizona DPS trooper wanted in $9.5 million investment fraud scheme
Frederick Arias, a retired Department of Public Safety trooper, is wanted by the FBI after he evaded arrest in 2019 in connection to a $9.5 million investment fraud scheme.
According to a release from the Arizona Attorney General's Office, Arias alongside a former financial adviser, Bradley Tennison, were the subject of an FBI investigation that began on Oct. 25, 2018, where the two were alleged to have conspired to defraud investors through an entity called "The Joseph Project."
"The organization purported to be a Christian institution offering risk-free investments with guaranteed rates of return and the promise of contributing to humanitarian projects," the Attorney General's Office said in a release.
The investigation found that between December 2015 and September 2016, nearly $9.5 million obtained from investors of the "project" were used in a misrepresented way. Rather than using the funds to contribute to humanitarian endeavors, the money was instead transferred to multiple accounts, some of which belonged to Tennison and Arias.
On June 17, 2019, Tennison and Arias were indicted on 19 felony counts, including money laundering, conspiracy and fraudulent schemes and artifices, according to the Attorney General's Office. Tennison was eventually convicted and ordered to pay restitution upwards of $9 million in monthly increments.
On June 26, Arias was charged by the King County District Court in Washington, where Arias previously lived, for failure to appear, resulting in a warrant for his arrest. On March 19, 2020, Arias received a federal charge for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, resulting in an additional warrant.
The FBI said that Arias should be considered an escape risk and urged anyone with information on him to contact their local FBI office or nearest American Embassy as Arias has ties to Canada, Norway, Australia, the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic.
No other information had been released.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Retired Arizona DPS trooper wanted in $9.5M investment fraud scheme
