Yahoo Movies A Palm Beach man paid for cars, Aspen trips with investors’ stolen $5.2 million, feds say
Federal regulators accuse a Jupiter businessman of diverting $5.2 million of investor money to “pay for personal expenses, such as luxury cars, jewelry, designer clothing, vacations to Aspen and Hawaii, and day-to-day living expenses.”
According to a civil complaint filed in West Palm Beach federal court by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Peter Krieger also has agreed to pay back his victims. That may be a challenge.
In his own separate bankruptcy filing, also filed in West Palm Beach federal court filing, Krieger claims he owns no property, no cars, no jewelry, and had $11.52 in the bank. Also, he claims, he, his wife and two kids are living at a deficit despite a household income of $105,114 per year.
In announcing its complaint last week, the SEC calls Krieger, 49, a “recidivist.” In the latest case, the agency says he “misappropriated” Oban Energies investor money from 2017 through 2020. He faced similar allegations in 2008 of misappropriating $3.7 million people invested in KFSI Fund hedge fund.
Krieger has not been charged with any criminal actions and, according to court documents, doesn’t admit or deny the allegations in either case. But, he and his father, Sheldon Krieger, each paid a $110,000 civil penalty in the 2008 case after, the SEC said, they “had paid investors significant amounts of money in connection with other civil and criminal cases related to the same conduct.”
In the current case, Peter Krieger has agreed to a judgment that would bar him from serving as an officer or director of a public and will order him to pay back investors as well as interest and civil penalties. The court will decide on that amount after the SEC files its motion.
Oban Energies and the Bahamas
State records say Oban Energies registered as a corporation in June 2016. The SEC filing says Oban’s raison d’etre was to work on “the Project,” which The Nassau Guardian says was building an oil refinery and storage facility.
State records also list Krieger as a manager on its 2017 and 2018 state filings. He was “the face of Oban” the SEC said until an agreement was signed with the Bahamian government in 2018. Though Krieger took a lower profile, the SEC said, he continued to run Oban day-to-day, “spearhead the Project on behalf of Oban and maintain exclusive control over its bank account.”
That last part’s the most important. The SEC says Krieger sent $3.7 million of investor funds from Oban to the bank account of Mid Atlantic Group. The Mid Atlantic Group, formed in 2011, had no relationship with Oban other than the man who state records say had been its president since 2012 — Peter Krieger. At one point, the SEC says, Krieger put $795,000 of investor money straight into the Mid Atlantic Group’s bank account.
The SEC says Krieger also used a company he reinstated with the state in 2017, S&P Projects, sending $1.5 million from Oban’s bank account to S&P, then to the trust accounts of Oban’s outside counsel. That attorney, the SEC said, would then shoot the $1.5 million over to Mid Atlantic Group.
The SEC says once Oban’s board found out about this in late 2020, Krieger got removed.
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Filing for bankruptcy
Krieger made his personal financial claims in December and January as part of his Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In those court documents, Krieger claims he’s worked in electrician sales for Bradenton-based Service Minds since June 2021, making about $73,167 annual income. Those financial filings also claim that, with his wife’s income, the Krieger annual household income is around $105,114.
Still, the filings say, their household runs at a $2,448 annual deficit. Their list of expenses counts, of course, the $3,500 per month rent they pay on a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half, 2,544-sq. ft. Jupiter home. It also counts $1,200 on “food and housekeeping supplies.”
That doesn’t count the $4.3 million in debts Krieger lists. That list of creditors includes the Internal Revenue Service; $310,000 Krieger owes a Suwanee, Georgia man who loaned money to Mid Atlantic Group; and $658,820 Krieger ran up on three American Express business cards from 2016 through 2020.
