AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A former CEO of an Austin-based investment firm has been convicted of using former NFL stars and church contacts to fraudulently raise more than $50 million from investors.
U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy says a federal jury on Wednesday convicted 44-year-old Kurt Branham Barton in a Ponzi scheme that cheated hundreds of individuals nationwide.
Barton — the founder, president and CEO of Triton Financial — faces up to life in prison.
Murphy says it is “regrettable that selfish, greedy individuals devise schemes to make themselves rich by victimizing honest and innocent people.”
The jury convicted Barton on nearly 40 counts, including one count of securities fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, five counts of making a false statement related to the acquisition of loans and 17 counts of money laundering.
