Man bilks investors with bogus stock

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- There's no foolproof plan when it comes to investing your money, but there are some signs to look out for.

"He is probably the best salesman I've ever seen in my entire life. He was just believable," said Larry Helminiak, a fraud victim.

"He" is Jef Curran, the founder and president of Gargoyles Inc., an advanced materials application company.

"The uniqueness was all cloths are woven 2-dimensionally, and he developed a method of weaving them 3-dimensionally, so that when he finished making his product it was impenetrable to bullets," said Helminiak.

"He was telling people that he had contracts with military of foreign countries," said U.S. Postal Inspector Frank Schissler.

Curran knew what he was doing. In one year, he sold more than $1.9 million worth of stock in his company, promising 10 times the return. It was an easy sell.

"It could even be used on the outside of Humvees instead of steal. In that way, the people in the audience would say, 'Jeez this is a great investment, we'd be helping our soldiers,'" said Helminiak.

However, it was all a lie. As victims started asking questions, they realized there were problems.

"And when I went in it was him and his secretary and a big empty building with no one working. And I thought if he has all of these multimillion dollar orders across the world somebody should be making the product," said Helminiak.

There were more than 200 victims. Postal inspectors say do your research before investing in anything.

The suspect in this case was sentenced to three years in prison on securities and mail fraud. He was also ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution.