Sentenced former Fort Collins financier Rick Van Vleet to 10 years in prison

Sentenced former Fort Collins financier Rick Van Vleet to 10 years in prison but said she might reconsider the sentence if he makes quick progress in paying back the approximately $3 million he improperly collected from investors.Van Vleet pleaded guilty last year to securities fraud stemming from a series of investments in music kiosks in 2003 to about 2005. Van Vleet promised investors large returns and guaranteed their principal through a series of promissory notes.According to state regulators, those promissory notes were securities, and Van Vleet failed to properly disclose the full risks to prospective investors who gave him about $3 million. That's the sole crime for which Van Vleet has been convicted.However, the original case against Van Vleet also included allegations that he used the money from investors to live large, buying guns, vehicles and boats.The Colorado Attorney General's Office also accused Van Vleet of diverting money from the kiosk venture into the development of a high-class resort on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. Prosecutors said Van Vleet's operation had all the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme, in which money from new investors is used to pay "dividends" to existing ones until the scheme collapsed.In sentencing Van Vleet, Judge Jolene Blair said she believed he posed a risk to the community. She noted that he has been on the losing end of multiple civil lawsuits from other disgruntled investors, and at one point was barred from selling securities by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Van Vleet persuaded Blair after his conviction in November to delay his sentencing until now, because he was close to being able to get investors their money back. Blair noted he didn't have the money now and seemed unlikely to ever get it.

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"There are many, many years of lies and manipulation by Mr. Van Vleet," Blair said.



Many of Van Vleet's investors said they had no idea of his past. During victim impact testimony Tuesday afternoon, several investors said they believe Van Vleet was using their money to pay off prior legal judgments against him.

In a lengthy and sometimes rambling statement to the court, Van Vleet apologized for his mistakes and said he would willingly throw himself in front of a bus if that would get people their money back. But he also attacked several of his victims, saying they told “lies” about him. Alternately apologetic and defensive, Van Vleet assured Blair that the Vanuatu investment deal remains the best way for investors to get their money back.


“I’ve always been a man of my word,” Van Vleet said as some of his victims gasped. “I’m beyond sorry for what happened. I really thought I was doing a favor for a lot of these people.”


At another point, Van Vleet said he is also a victim, blaming business associates for making bad decisions he didn’t approve.


“I never, ever used a dime of these people’s money,” he said. “I’m a victim with you.”
Several of Van Vleet’s investors spoke on his behalf during Tuesday’s sentencing, pleading for probation so he could go back to work for them and recoup their investments.


Facing a 2005 lawsuit from an investor, Van Vleet declared bankruptcy the day before that trial was to begin in 2006, halting the proceedings. That investor, Thomas Moy, was also named as a victim in the criminal prosecution. Moy lost at least $1.7 million investing with Van Vleet.


“It is time to put an end to the nearly two decades of fraudulent activity on the part of the defendant,” Moy told Blair.


Other investors said they raided retirement accounts and college funds to come up with money to invest with Van Vleet after being assured there was little risk involved in pooling their money with a “circle of very exclusive people,” investor Sherry King said.

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Loveland resident Judy Bogaard said she invested about $100,000 with Van Vleet, giving him money for the music kiosks, which she said he then told her he was putting into Vanuatu because it offered a better return.


“He stole money from me,” said Bogaard, a real estate agent. “This is how he operates. This is how he lives.”


During his address to the court, Van Vleet said he is working to line up new investors to buy the Vanuatu property so the original investors can get their money back. As he spoke, those investors openly scoffed at his promises.


Earlier in the hearing, the court-appointed trustee overseeing Van Vleet’s bankruptcy proceedings told Blair that letting Van Vleet take those steps was simply a way for him to find new victims. The trustee said he’s been able to trace about $32 million in investments that Van Vleet handled, with about $11 million paid back out to investors, about $4.5 million poured into Vanuatu, and about $5 million to $6 million spent to support Van Vleet’s lifestyle. He said only about $400,000, plus the Vanuatu properties, remains.


“It is tragic and a shame to see what has happened to these people,” trustee Tom Connelly said.