A former Lone Tree man who allegedly swindled millions of dollars from investors in Colorado and six other states has been extradited from Argentina to face charges in Colorado, the state attorney general’s office said Monday in a news release.
William L. Walters, 45, was in Denver County Jail and was expected to be transferred to Douglas County, where he will face trial.
The FBI tracked down Walters in Argentina after his passport was flagged by Interpol. An Argentinian court approved Walters’ extradition earlier this month.
Walters fled Colorado in August 2006 allegedly without repaying money he obtained from investors for his day-trading business. He was indicted by the state grand jury in May 2007.
Walters was accused of running an elaborate Ponzi scheme. The grand jury alleged that he collected more than $23 million between January 2001 and July 2006 from victims in Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas.
His Colorado clients resided in Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties, according to the indictment.
Walters owned and operated Samurai Capital and Mana Trading Co. According to the Colorado attorney general’s office, Walters used his clients’ investments for his own personal expenses and to make “interest payments” to other investors.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
