“Investment advisors are legally required to act in the best
interest of the clients. This defendant did the exact opposite.” said Billy J.
Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. “Kniss lied to and took advantage
of his clients, many of whom were over 65, to fund his own personal pursuits.”
“Kniss treated these victims - and their savings accounts -
like his personal ATM,” said Renn Cannon, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in
Oregon. “If you - or senior citizens in your family - are considering
investments of any kind, make sure you do your research. Only invest with
reputable firms and, if the promised returns sound too good to be true, they
likely are.”
According to court documents, Kniss founded Iris Capital in
October 2010 and offered real estate based investments in several different
funds to investors. Through various means, including brochures, private
placement memoranda, emails, and personal presentations, Kniss misrepresented
how he would manage investor funds.
Between February 2011 and April 2013, 47 people invested
approximately $4.3 million in Kniss’s funds. Kniss commingled investor money
among the funds, used new investments to make payments to prior investors, and
used more than $500,000 for person use, including investing in a retail
marijuana enterprise.
Kniss faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a
$250,000 fine or twice the gross financial gains or losses resulting from the
offense if greater than $250,000, and three years of supervised release. He
will be sentenced on Wednesday, August 22, 2018 before U.S. District Court
Judge Michael W. Mosman.
The FBI investigated this case. It is being prosecuted by
Seth D. Uram, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
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