Opinion ID: 2748470
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant Jordan

Text: Several weeks later, Defendant Prange suggested the undercover agent invest in Vida Life International. On August 22, 2011, the agent met with Prange and Defendant Jordan--Vida Life’s president, CEO, and CFO. The agent had a two-hour, face-to-face conversation with Jordan, during which he explained the kickback scheme. He then told Jordan “the decision now is yours whether you want . . . to continue.” Jordan asked if Vida Life would need to report the kickback on “a 1099” tax form; the agent said no, -5- because they would “mask[ the] payment through a consulting agreement” even though no one would ever perform any consulting. The agent then told Jordan, “my biggest concern . . . is your ability to . . . feel comfortable and . . . cover or hide the payment that you’re making back to me.” Jordan responded, “I have no issues.” The agent also told Jordan, “I’m screwing my investors on the hedge fund side,” but qualified that, “They have done so well in the past that anything I do like this is . . . not gonna really hurt them.” He then asked if Jordan “had any pangs . . . of consc[ience] with that.” Jordan responded simply: “No.” Jordan then gave the agent materials the agent could use to “mislead” his partners on the nature of the investment. Jordan also pledged to make Vida Life’s press releases say the cash was coming from the sale of fishmeal, and not from Seafin. At the close of the meeting, Jordan proposed they sign the consulting and stock subscription agreements right then and there. The agent signed the consulting agreement, but directed Jordan (who lived in California) to take the subscription agreement home with him, fill in certain information, and then send it back. By August 31, 2011, Jordan had finalized these agreements. Once the executives finalized the stock purchase agreements and the consulting agreements, which listed “Waters Edge” as the nominee corporation to receive the kickback, the FBI (posing as Seafin) wired the first tranche of approximately $30,000 -6- to each company. Of the $32,000 Vida Life received, it sent $16,000 to Waters Edge. Vida Life then disbursed the remainder to Jordan, his credit card, his niece, his attorney, and his business partner. In anticipation of the next tranche, Jordan fabricated an invoice, dated September 8, 2011, justifying a $50,000 payment by Vida Life to Waters Edge for purported consulting services, technology assessments, travel expenses, and conference fees. Neither Waters Edge nor the agent ever provided these services. The FBI stopped the investments in September 2011, adopting a cover story that Seafin had transferred John Kelly to its London office where he could no longer execute these fraudulent investments. The FBI arrested Prange, Jordan, and the other participants several months later. The three other executives indicted with Prange and Jordan--Stephen Berman, Richard Kranitz, and Karen Person--pled guilty. Prange and Jordan went to trial.