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(Undated) -- An eastern Iowa woman accused of misappropriating millions of dollars from her investor-clients, has been sentenced to three-years in prison for Mail Fraud. Investigators say 32-year-old Chelsea Gless of Princeton, north of Davenport, used nearly 3-million dollars from dozens of clients for herself instead of investing the funds in a precious metals firm called Royal Metals Group.
US District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger also ordered Gless to serve three years of supervised release to follow her prison term and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. Gless was also ordered to pay over $2.9 million in restitution to victims.
Gless was the manager and part-owner of Royal Metals group, which purported to buy and sell precious metals for customers. Investigators say for nearly four years, Gless made false representations to clients and misappropriated clients' funds and metals, and used the funds to pay for personal expenses and other clients who were owed money.
Gless was charged in November 2020 with Mail Fraud, Money Laundering, and Wire Fraud. She pleaded guilty in August of last year to a scheme to defraud and one count of Mail Fraud.
U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. “Chelsea Gless chose fraud over business failure and misappropriated millions of dollars from her customers,” said Westphal. “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our federal and local law enforcement partners, this prosecution sends a clear message to those like Gless that there are consequences for using lies and deception as a business model.” T
The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated this case with assistance from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Davenport Police Department, and Bettendorf Police Department.
FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel stated, “Chelsea Gless developed a scheme to defraud dozens of precious metals investors of millions of dollars. In some cases, the victims of this scheme lost their entire retirement savings. The FBI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to apprehend subjects like Chelsea Gless whose crimes of fraud can have devastating financial consequences for their victims.” “IRS Criminal Investigation is proud to lend its financial investigation expertise to our law enforcement partners to follow money trails that lead to criminals defrauding the public,” said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge, Tyler Hatcher, St. Louis Field Office.