Local investment adviser, 77, sentenced to 10 years for scam

A Houston investment adviser who swindled more than $5 million from more than 50 victims he met at church was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Allan George Cooper, 77, used new investor funds to pay previous investors and fund his own lifestyle, including paying his credit card bills and funneling money to other accounts he controlled, according to his plea agreement. Cooper pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and mail fraud in May, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Cooper to prison after two victims testified about the hardships they faced because of Cooper’s fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Cooper was ordered to pay $5.8 million in restitution to his victims.

Cooper’s lawyer from the federal public defender’s office did not return a call for comment.

The scheme began in March 2006, according to the government’s criminal indictment. He had opened two companies the year before — AG Cooper and Effective Funding Network — and presented himself as an investment adviser.

Cooper met investors through a church group that court documents do not identify. Others were referred by existing investors. Details are not available because many of the court records are sealed.

Cooper told investors the money they invested would be used to make short-term loans to small companies that could not get bank financing and projected returns in excess of 12 percent, according to his plea agreement. He sent misleading quarterly statements to investors and occasionally made monthly payments to some by using money from new investors.

The returns encouraged investors to invest more, according to court records.