A Seattle investment advisor, Mark F. Spangler, 60, was sentenced March 13, 2014, to 16 years in prison on 32 counts of fraud and money laundering. Spangler, without his clients' knowledge, invested more than $46 million into two very risky startup companies which he also had ownership interest.
Beginning in 1998, Spangler raised more than $56 million while running The Spangler Group. Then, between 2003 and 2011, Mark Spangler invested over $46 million of his clients' money into his own startup companies, TeraHop and Tamarac, rather than investing the money in publicly traded securities. These investment losses devastated his clients. Three of Spangler's clients spoke at the sentencing demanding the judge sentence Spangler to the full 20 year sentence. The court was able to return over $30 million to Spangler's investors and the judge ordered Spangler to pay an additional $19.8 million in restitution to his clients.
Spangler was taken into custody immediately to begin serving his 16 year sentence.
According to FINRA's BrokerCheck, Mark F. Spangler, Investment Advisor Representative, was previously registered with the following Investment Adviser firm:
THE SPANGLER GROUP, INC. (IARD# 107753) - SEATTLE, WA
02/13/1990 - 12/31/2011
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