Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Alabama Ponzi Scheme

A lawyer and former-FBI agent has pled guilty to operating a Ponzi scheme in Trussville, Alabama that took in $4 million from swindled investors.  Cary Alan Burdette, of Trussville, had been under investigation by the Alabama Securities Commission since 2008 and has been the subject of numerous civil litigation filed by defrauded investors.

Burdette was arrested in April 2009 and charged with nineteen counts of selling unregistered securities, following the issuance of a cease-and-desist order by the Alabama Securities Commission in April 2008.  Burdette promised investors returns of up to twelve percent for their investment in real estate and medical ventures, often memorialized in a promissory note.  Instead of making these investments, Burdette used the majority of investor funds to pay returns to older investors and to pay personal and business expenses.  

Burdette, who is a licensed attorney and former member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is set to be sentenced next month.