5 reindicted in $72 million Ponzi scheme

Prosecutors on Friday secured new indictments against five of the eight people at the center of a Ponzi scheme that allegedly bilked at least 200 people out of $72 million.

The Lucas County grand jury issued indictments against James M. DelVerne, 54, of Toledo; Doug Miller, 60, of Bowling Green; Gary Rathbun, 67, and Nancy Rathbun, 72, both of rural Wauseon; and John T. Walters, 53, of Perrysburg.

The 154-count indictment accuses them of an array of charges, including grand theft, money laundering, investment adviser fraud, theft from a person in a protected class, tampering with records, securities fraud, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The case centers on the former Northwest Capital, a Toledo investment firm that served as an intermediary between investors and businesses raising capital by selling accounts receivables.

Those indicted Friday were five of the eight individuals originally indicted in April, 2023.

At the end of May, in the face of ongoing issues the defense had raised about the searchability of more than 4.3 million pages of discovery provided by the state, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the case with the intent of refiling.

The three individuals who were indicted in 2023 but have not been re-indicted are Colleen Hall, 66, of Sylvania; Adam Salon, 46, of Toledo; and Brad Konerman, 38, of the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood, Ohio.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office declined to comment Friday, noting it does not discuss ongoing prosecutions.