A federal jury found Richardson guilty of six counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering between February 2014 to October 2016. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole for each of the six wire fraud convictions and up to 10 years in prison without parole for each money laundering count.

Since February 2009, Richardson had owned Douglas A. Richardson, CPA, LLC. He was also former CFO, treasurer, and CPA of Smart Prong Technologies, a Tulsa, Okla.-based business, from Dec. 2013, to June 2016. Smart Prong developed technology, and manufactured devices for charging cell phones.

Richardson transferred at least $4.4 million from Smart Prong’s bank accounts into his personal and business accounts. He tricked clients into loaning him money for investments, planning all along to take the funds for personal use and paid off other individuals, including prior investors and other creditors.

One client was encouraged to participate in a promissory note program. Richardson claimed the client could earn money from interest on loans for funding a real estate deal and an automobile dealership. After the client loaned Richardson $365,000 from his business, the CPA used $230,000 to repay another individual and $72,704 for paying off the Corvette, while issuing himself a $7,500 check.