Retired Boston Police Officer Charged in Investment Fraud Scheme

A federal grand jury has returned a five-count indictment charging Daniel Rice, a retired Boston Police officer, with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.  Rice, 50, was released after appearing in federal court in Boston and is scheduled to be arraigned in Buffalo on Friday.

According to prosecutors, Rice, the owner of Security Financial Development LLC, helped steer investors to companies that were controlled by an alleged accomplice, Michael Wilson.  Rice is accused of convincing a Montana broker to wire $250,000 to one of Wilson’s companies in March of 2009 even though he was aware the “companies failed to pay out on deals promising large returns in short periods of time.” Records show that the same broker wired $100,000 to Rice in January of 2010.  Rice kept $40,000 for his own personal expenses and transferred the rest to a bank account controlled by Wilson in Buffalo.

Another investor’s funds, totaling $71,875, were wired to bank accounts in the Buffalo area for a Wilson Company in July of 2010, officials said.

“None of these deals paid out” to the investors, the FBI statement said. “The only money ever recovered was the $71,875 wired . . . in July 2010, which was recovered because the government quickly applied to have the receiving bank accounts frozen. The funds eventually were returned to the investor, who lives in Utah.”

This indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption Division.