A Utah County entrepreneur, known for his “alpha male” teachings, has pleaded guilty to swindling some 530 investors out of more than $20 million.
Jeremiah Joseph Evans, also known as “The Bull” and the organizer of a 2022 “Alpha Con” gathering in Salt Lake City, appeared in federal court Thursday and admitted to felony counts of money laundering and securities fraud.
Most investors, according to prosecutors, entered into securities, or investment contracts, of $30,000 to $40,000 for e-commerce stores purportedly operated by Alpha Influence LLC.
Court documents state that neither Evans nor Alpha Influence was licensed to offer or sell securities.
Evans acquired the investments for “Alpha Automated Stores” between July 2019 and July 2022, according to the documents. He told clients that their money would be fully recovered within 12 to 18 months, the court papers add, with a yield of up to 10% in monthly returns.
Instead, prosecutors say, the funds were primarily allocated to Evans and those selling the investments as commissions, with a “fraction” going toward the promised opening of Alpha Influence’s online stores on Amazon.
In one instance, the charges state, Evans used $50,000 from the securities scheme to put a down payment on a Lamborghini.
A joint investigation by the Utah Division of Securities and the FBI’s Salt Lake City office determined that the 29-year-old Evans also made false or misleading statements about the success of the company, how long it had been in operation and his connections with “high-ranking Amazon staff.”
Investigators say Evans “failed to disclose that screenshots produced and published by Alpha Influence for Amazon stores reported to be successful were not Alpha Influence stores.” They say the scheme also kept from investors the fact that Alpha Influence “could not get many stores operational after they were shut down for violation of Amazon policies.”
Evans is scheduled to be sentenced April 3 in Salt Lake City’s U.S. District Court.
Last November, Orem resident Kole Glen Brimhall, an Alpha Influence sales representative, pleaded guilty to defrauding clients. Brimhall sold fraudulent investment contracts to approximately 130 investors, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, from March 2020 to June 2022.
