R. G. Reynolds Found Guilty

Financial talk show host R. G. Reynolds was found guilty on Thursday of 13 counts of mail fraud and two counts of witness tampering.

A five-woman, seven-man federal jury took less than four hours to conclude that Reynolds had duped fans of his radio and television shows into investing in schemes that were intended to enrich him but held little promise of returns to investors.

“The evidence was overwhelming,” Special U.S. Atty. Peter Morris said. “Justice was done.”

Reynolds, 44, remained stoic as the verdicts were read. He later said he would appeal “all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.”

The bearded talk show host, who remains in custody pending a bail hearing Tuesday, faces a maximum prison sentence of 85 years and up to $3.75 million in fines. He is due to be sentenced Dec. 2.

During the weeklong trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence on the “managed account” blind pool investment program that Reynolds ran from 1985 to 1987 through his now-defunct Burbank company, R. G. Reynolds Enterprises.

Touting himself as a financial expert and self-made millionaire, Reynolds--who has no formal education--lured more than 70 mostly inexperienced investors into investing a total of nearly $1 million in the managed account program by promising them returns ranging from 48% to 1,000%, prosecutors said.

Reynolds would then send investors phony account statements saying they were earning high returns, but Reynolds actually spent most of the money to pay business and personal expenses, prosecutors said. Most investors never received any profit from the program, they said, and many are still trying to get their original investments back.

The investment program “was a complete fraud,” Morris said. “He never intended to pay the managed account people back.”