Tualatin Man Sentenced for Money Laundering and Defrauding Investors

PORTLAND, Ore.—Ronald Eugene Stover, 65, of Tualatin, Oregon, was sentenced today to five years of probation including two years’ house arrest for money laundering and engaging in a scheme to defraud investors.

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken also ordered Stover to pay more than $3.2 million in restitution to his victims and $168,883 to satisfy a forfeiture money judgment. The court cited Stover’s age and poor health in issuing a probationary sentence.

According to court documents, beginning in 2010, Stover began soliciting short-term loan investments to fund various Xtreme Iron capital projects. Stover claimed to have a long track records of success in real estate development, business and banking and relied heavily on investor introductions made by other professional intermediaries to establish his credibility. Xtreme Iron owned a heavily-leveraged fleet of Caterpillar and John Deere heavy equipment in Frisco, Texas and maintained an office in Wilsonville, Oregon.

At Stover’s urging, investors sent funds to Tri-Core Funding Group, an entity wholly owned and controlled by Stover. Stover falsely claimed the company had a sound business model, strong growth opportunities and manageable debt exposure. In addition to Stover’s many false claims about the business’s health and viability, he advanced many falsehoods about the nature of the investment opportunity including, but not limited to: investor funds would be used exclusively for business purposes, Stover himself would provide additional capital sourcing from his own funds and investors would receive short-term repayment of their loan notes plus interest.

In May 2012, Stover emailed a victim soliciting funds to purchase heavy equipment from Caterpillar. In response to the solicitation, Stover executed a 30-day loan note promising repayment plus interest. The victim wired $175,000 to Tri-Core Funding Group the next day. Unbeknownst to the victim, Stover never intended to use the money as promised. Immediately after receiving the funds, Stover used the funds to make over a year’s worth of mortgage payments on his residence in Tualatin, which was on the brink of foreclosure. Stover never repaid his victim.

Stover previously pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering on November 13, 2018.

The IRS and FBI investigated this case. It was prosecuted by Donna Brecker Maddux and Julia E. Jarrett, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.