Local sought in fraud claim

Police are looking for a Costa Mesa man state officials implicated Friday in an alleged $52-million Ponzi scheme that has swindled more than 1,000 people out thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

Authorities say Scott Yard, 47, was one of six men who between 2001 and 2006 helped Irvine-based Carolina Development Company dish out more than $52 million in stock to thousands of investors with promises the money would be invested in real estate near golf courses and return profits.

Instead, in a warrant filed by Atty. Gen. Edmund Brown Jr., authorities claim that the group spent the money on buy luxury cars, lavish vacations, planes and returns to earlier investors.

Efforts to reach Yard on Friday were unsuccessful.

According to the criminal complaint, Yard was one of a few salesmen who placed cold calls to potential victims.

In spring 2004, prosecutors claim, Yard persuaded a man to invest $10,000 with the company.

After steady returns — which were from newer investors — the man invested another $50,000 over the next seven months, the complaint states. The man did not know he was victimized until the government contacted him in May 2006, authorities said.

Prosecutors say the men promised investors huge dividends if they invested at least $100,000 because it would be secured by deeds to parcels of land. Of the more than $52 million people invested in the company, $24 million was spent on extravagant bonuses, personal medical bills, airplanes, BMWs, concerts and vacations, officials said.

Prosecutors recommended that Yard be held in lieu of $8.5-million bail if he’s caught.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.