Richard Young,and William Willard are charged in a Dec. 3 indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud

Richard Young, 49, of Lewistown, Mont., and William Willard, 65, of Bozeman, Mont., are charged in a Dec. 3 indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, 11 counts of engaging in money transactions with property derived from criminal activity and criminal forfeiture.

The men operated the companies of Global One Group, LLC, Malee Enterprises, Inc., and Badie Inc. Young is listed in corporate records as the founder, president, chief executive officer and manager of Global One. Willard is a co-founder and Member of Global One.

The indictment alleges that between April 2006 and October 2007, Young and Willard received about $900,000 from investors as a result of their false representations.According to the indictment, Young and Willard told investors they would be provided with educational opportunities regarding trading techniques on the foreign currency exchange market. The pair charged investors a $500 annual membership fee, which included access Global One’s Web site, conference calls and Web-based seminars, the indictment stated. Global One’s Web site now advertises a $2,500 membership fee and a $1,000 renewal fee.In these conference calls and seminars, Young and Willard claimed that Young had made 8,000 successful trades in a year on the foreign exchange market without one loss. Young and Willard told investors Global One could earn a substantial rate of return on their investments through a software trading program called Global Trac.Global One allegedly received money from investors in the form of loans and instructed investors to open accounts with Global One brokers. Young and Willard obtained powers of attorney from investors, allowing them to make trades on behalf of investors.The indictments allege that Global One didn’t have the “Global Trac” software it advertised.In addition, Young and Willard didn’t intend to fulfill the substantial rate of return on loans provided to them by their investors and used the funds for their own personal use by transferring money from the Global One bank accounts in Reno and Las Vegas to the bank accounts of Maelee Enterprises, Inc., and Badie, Inc. -- companies owned by Young and Willard, respectively.The men are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie P. Cooke in Reno on Jan. 22 for an initial appearance and arraignment. If convicted, they face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the conspiracy count and on each mail fraud and wire fraud count, up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on each money laundering count, and up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of engaging in money transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.