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POSTED: Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Sudden Valley man accused of posing as stockholder to get $1.5 million

A Sudden Valley man has been charged in federal court in Long Island, N.Y., with defrauding six companies across the U.S. of about $1.5 million over five years.

Mark K. Campbell is charged with mail fraud after a yearlong FBI investigation found he allegedly mailed false claims to companies ordered to pay shareholders of a corporation that recently settled a class-action lawsuit.

Campbell's claims included forged broker's statements showing he owned a certain amount of stock in those corporations, and the six companies would send him checks based on the amount of stock he claimed he owned, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Long Island.

Campbell deposited the checks in personal bank accounts or in the accounts of two companies he set up, according to the complaint.

FBI agents arrested Campbell at his home on June 22, and he made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle on June 24.

He posted bond, and a Long Island grand jury has until July 18 to indict him, said Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison, Nardoza said.

The FBI has seized 15 accounts belonging to Campbell and his companies, and recovered $800,000 to $900,000, said Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI's field office in New York City.

Margolin said one of the companies that received Campbell's claims tipped off the FBI that his claims likely were fraudulent.

Campbell's case is being prosecuted in Long Island because one of the companies he allegedly defrauded is based in Melville, N.Y., Nardoza said.

According to the complaint:

The six companies that received Campbell's claims are based in New York, California, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Starting in 2002, Campbell or his two companies would mail claims to companies that were distributing money from class-action lawsuit settlements where stockholders were required to receive a portion of the settlement. The claims had forged broker's statements showing Campbell owned stock in the corporation.

From 2002 to 2007, Campbell sent the companies more than 20 claims and received about $1.5 million in return.