Investment Professional Indicted on Multi-Million-Dollar Investment Fraud Scheme

ATLANTA - Craig Allen, executive officer of C.M. Allen Capital Management, Inc., has been indicted on charges arising from a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme that defrauded investors across the United States.

"Allen abused his clients' trust by allegedly stealing millions of dollars to support his lavish lifestyle," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "The defendant deceived and falsified documents to conceal his thefts to provide his investors with a false sense of financial security. We will continue to prosecute individuals who cheat investors out of their hard-earned money."

"While it is easy to dismiss financial fraud cases as being almost benign because of their lack of violence, there is, however, a very real victimization felt and lives are changed forever," said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "The FBI is hopeful that Allen's indictment will send a strong message to anyone who would try to take advantage of unsuspecting investors for their own personal greed."

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Allen, the sole shareholder and executive officer of C.M. Allen Capital Management, Inc., allegedly defrauded dozens of investors across the country through his management of the Cheetah Fund. Around February 2019, prospective investors received documents that reported Cheetah achieved annual investment returns as high as seventy-three percent.

Once invested in Cheetah, clients received fraudulent monthly account statements showing false investment gains, and tax documents reporting the false gains. Allen allegedly misled investors to believe the tax forms were prepared by Cheetah's purported auditor at an accounting firm. But the Fund did not employ an auditor and Allen reported gains when the Fund continuously lost money. In addition to these misrepresentations, Allen used money from new investors to repay prior investors, and to fund his lifestyle. Cheetah investors lost more than $7 million because of Allen's investment fraud scheme.

Craig Murfee Allen, 53, of Atlanta, Georgia, was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 23, 2024. Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government's burden to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also provided valuable assistance. The SEC has filed a separate civil case, SEC v. Craig Allen, Case Number 1:24-cv-01771-SDG.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha Cooper and Christopher J. Huber are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.