As some readers of Hindenburg may be aware, we got our start in the world of fraud research by investigating suspected Ponzi schemes and private market fraud, including multiple firms and individuals later charged criminally or civilly by regulators.
On October 24th, Aaron Wagner, a social media financial influencer, and claimed successful entrepreneur managing $1 billion in investor assets, was arrested and taken into jail, per Salt Lake City’s prison inmate lookup. The Department of Justice unsealed a complaint that had been filed the previous day alleging wire fraud. Per the complaint, Wagner diverted funds raised from an investor—that were supposed to be used to build certain restaurants—to instead purchase a private plane. We are glad to see the DoJ take swift action and hope these steps help maximize recovery for any of Wagner’s aggrieved investors. We began researching Wagner in August 2023, following outreach from multiple whistleblowers who reported how he had misrepresented his investment performance, falsified financial records, and illicitly skimmed investor assets. We examined these issues in addition to evidence that he fabricated key elements of his background. Today, we are publishing some of our findings to hopefully shed more light on the story of Aaron Wagner.
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