Raleigh businessman accused of running ‘Ponzi’ scheme faces more charges

The founder of a downtown Raleigh investment firm was accused over the summer of operating a “Ponzi” scheme that helped support a lavish lifestyle, including a vacation home in Costa Rica and a horse farm in Wake County.

Stephen Condon Peters, 45, now faces additional federal charges, including aggravated identity theft. The charges were announced Thursday by Robert J. Higdon Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Peters, who founded VisionQuest on Hargett Street, was charged in July after authorities said he bilked investors out of nearly $15 million.

FBI agents searched his business five months before the July charges, which included investment adviser fraud and wire fraud.

From 2009 to 2017, prosecutors contend, Peters sold at least $15 million worth of promissory notes in VisionQuest Capital. Those notes were sold primarily to clients of VisionQuest Management, another company run by Peters. That was a conflict of interest, prosectutors say.

In exchange for investments, clients were promised 8 percent annually in interest, according to prosectuors. If the investors agreed to forgo that interest and reinvest, they were promised a 9 percent rate of return.

But investigators say Peters never invested the money into revenue-generating businesses.

“In fact, Peters stole large portions of the investor proceeds and carried out a ‘Ponzi’ scheme on investors,” the indictment says.

Peters also is accused of skimming off the top of some of the investments.

Investigators think Peters used the money for luxury items, including a “luxury vacation home in Costa Rica,” a horse farm in Wake County where he lived, a Cadillac Escalade, properties in Jacksonville and Ferguson, N.C., farm equipment, a gun collection with rifles and pistols, diamond jewelry and more.

Federal investigators noted in the indictment that all the properties are subject to forfeiture, including three horses named Hugo Boss, a Dutch harness, Cartagena, a white Welsh mare, and Princess.

This week’s grand jury indictment alleges that Peters, both directly and through his staff at Visionquest Wealth Management, “forged, fabricated, and concealed documents and records in an effort to thwart an examination” by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2016.

Investigators have also accused Peters of fabricating numerous other records given to the SEC examiners, including client balance sheets, wealth management contracts and several outside business activity disclosures.

Wes Camden, the Raleigh attorney representing Peters, said in July that his client denies the charges against him and “looks forward to having his day in court.

“As we all know, there are two sides to every story, and Mr. Peters very much looks forward to telling his side through the vigorous defense of this case,” Camden said in an email to The News & Observer.

Peters is scheduled to make his first appearance in court for the July charges in December. No court date has been set for the additional charges.

This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 4:51 PM.