A Denver investment adviser who took in $1.2 million from 30 investors and lost it within days or weeks of receiving it was recently ordered to repay the full amount, pay a penalty, and spent three years in prison. 

Ian Gregory Bell, 36, was sentenced Sept. 12.  

Bell was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2024 on eight counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, and five counts of money laundering. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in May. 

Investigators discovered Bell began misrepresenting his gains to his investors in early 2020, a little more than two years after he obtained an entry-level license. 

“Bell touted his investing skills and told many investors he could earn significant returns with low risk,” his federal plea agreement reads. “In nearly all cases, however, he spent or lost the investors’ money within days or weeks of receiving it.” 

His deception lasted two years. Bell often sent screenshots fabricated financial gains to his investors, but “Bell often deducted a portion of investors’ funds for personal gain before he even transferred those funds to a trading account,” as stated in the plea agreement. 

Among those personal uses listed, Bell wired a sum of investors’ money to his mother and paid off a then-girlfriend’s $10,000 credit card bill. 

One of Bell’s investors was a former NFL player who now coaches collegiately in the metro area, per case records.

The judge at Bell’s sentencing described how some of the victims were older and no longer possessed the ability to recoup their losses. 

In addition to the $1.2 million repayment, Bell was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and a $150,000 fine.