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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A sales agent from Utah County has pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges in federal court.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kole Glen Brimhall, 27, of Orem admitted he defrauded investors and sold fraudulent investment contracts. Brimhall sold these contracts without a license to around 130 clients, the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office says.
According to the court documents, Brimhall made these admissions in a change of plea hearing and said that he sold these contracts under Alpha Influence, LLC. Brimhall was not licensed to offer or sell securities.
From March 2020 to June 2022, Brimhall offered and sold “investment contracts for ‘Alpha Automated Stores.'” According to court documents, he offered these contracts for $30,000 to $40,000 each.
Court documents say that the contracts offered “a fully managed and automated Amazon store,” through a “done for you system.”
As part of the scheme, Brimhall sold the e-commerce stores to purchasers as a passive investment and promised investors the stores would make consistent returns, stating that the returns would be estimated at “$4k-7k average per month for take home.” It was not disclosed to investors that Brimhall put the majority of the invested funds into Alpha Influence, and then distributed those funds to sales agents, including himself, for commissions.
According to court documents, over the two years he operated Alpha Influence, Brimhall sold approximately 130 storefronts totaling nearly $5 million, of which he kept over $1 million for himself.