Man faces fraud charges

A federal grand jury has indicted a Huntington Beach resident on accusations he defrauded dozens of people by taking out personal loans he never intended to repay. Prosecutors say he tricked victims out of more than $1.5 million over a period dating back to the early ’90s.

Curt Arvidson, 67, faces four counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, following an FBI investigation. If he is convicted, the maximum sentence is 20 years in federal prison per count, but punishments in practice can be far less.

Arvidson found victims often through friends and other personal recommendations, Asst. U.S. Atty. Robb Adkins said. Then he promised them they would make huge interest rates for the courtesy of loaning him money for an extremely short time to shore up purported deals, according to the indictment. Business names he used include Financial Resources, Financial Center and Financial Offices, according to the indictment. When they asked for payment, it almost never came through, Adkins said.

“It’s a typical high-yield scheme, where you promise extremely high rates of return, up to 500% or more within a very short period of time to lure investors into paying for it,” Adkins said. “He did not make many, if any, payments. Most of them received no money.”

Efforts to reach Arvidson or his attorney were unsuccessful.

Arvidson has been sued in the past few years on allegations of breach of contract, according to court records. But the FBI got involved when banks reported he made numerous cash transactions just under $10,000, which can be a sign of trying to avoid federal law about reporting large fund transfers, Adkins said.

Arvidson has been summoned to federal court in Santa Ana for an arraignment Jan. 7.