52 year-old Michael A. Meisner, a registered commodity trading advisor, of Boca Raton, Florida pled guilty before the Honorable U.S. Magistrate Judge James M. Hopkins to a three-count in turn filed on September 2, 2009.

The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bell. He was charged with mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 1341, loan application fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, and tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201.

Meisner admitted that on or about April 20, 2006, he filed a false application in order to obtain a $1,000,000 mortgage loan on certain property located on NW 49th Lane, Boca Raton, Florida. Also, in October, 2001, Meisner, through a company called Phoenix Diversified Investment Corporation (PDIC), accepted in excess of $37 million from over 260 investors.

In order to solicit investors, Meisner made materially false and fraudulent statements about his background and about PDIC’s performance, and omitted material facts. He failed to tell potential investors of the following:

1. That only $13 million of the $37 million in PDIC investor funds were deposited into commodities trading accounts.
2. Though he represented profit to the investors, in reality, trades on these funds showed a net trading loss in excess of $6 million.
3. That approximately $22 million of PDIC investor monies were not invested but, instead, were used to make fraudulent “interest payments” to prior investors.
4. Adding up, Meisner failed to tell potential investors that approximately $6.8 million in PDIC investor monies were used to support his and his family’s luxurious lifestyle.
5. PDIC investor monies were used to pay for, among other things: the purchase or lease of at least 15 luxury cars, including a $217,800 2005 Bentley GT and a $152,000 2005 Aston Martin; the purchase or lease of eight luxury Palm Beach county residences, including high-end single-family homes in gated communities and oceanfront condominiums; luxury vacations, private education expenses, country club fees, multiple large-screen televisions and other high-end electronics, luxury clothing and housewares, and a lavish wedding for his daughter held at Mar-A-Lago on Palm Beach.

He further admitted that from on or about October 21, 2006, up to and including the present, he evaded the payment of a large part of the $444,581 in federal income tax he reported he owed for 2005 by, among other things, using corporate PDIC business funds to pay for personal living expenses related to his lavish lifestyle.

Bond was set at a $500,000 corporate surety bond, and a $500,000 personal surety bond. Sentencing was set for November 20, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., before the Honorable U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra. Meisner faces a maximum of 55 years imprisonment.