ST. LOUIS (AP) - An eastern Missouri auction business owner is accused of a scheme that defrauded clients of at least $2.5 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis announced an indictment Thursday against 76-year-old Stuart Millner of Union. The indictment accuses Millner of three counts of bank fraud, one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution, four counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud.
Millner’s attorney, Jim Martin, says there is “significant misunderstanding” in the allegations and he is confident in Millner’s innocence.
Federal prosecutors say Millner’s business used proceeds from sales that should have gone to clients to pay company expenses and debts owed to previous clients. The indictment alleges that Millner’s company told customers that auctioned items sold for less than they actually sold for as part of the effort to conceal the fraud.
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