United States Attorney David Metcalf has announced the indictment of Lancaster County man Daryl F. Heller, 55, for his alleged involvement in an extensive investment fraud scheme. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Heller has been charged with one count of securities fraud and four counts of wire fraud. These charges follow a fraudulent scheme that allegedly resulted in investor losses totaling approximately $402 million.
Heller, hailing from Lititz, Pennsylvania, was the majority owner of several companies, including Paramount Management Group, LLC, which was involved in the purchase and operation of ATMs nationwide. The indictment alleges that from January 2017 to December 2024, Heller solicited around $770 million from investors under false pretenses. He purported that these funds would be invested in ATMs, and in return, investors would receive monthly payments from the generated revenues.
However, the funds were not utilized as promised by Heller and were reportedly diverted to pay earlier investor returns, Heller's personal expenses, and business debts of his companies. Additionally, the indictment points out a significant number of the ATMs were either non-existent or not operational, thus unable to generate the promised revenue. To hide the alleged scheme, Heller is accused of creating fraudulent records that inflated the number of ATMs and misrepresented the revenue they were producing.
In April 2024, payments to investors ceased when the influx of new investor money dried up, and despite assurances of payments and buyouts till December 2024, none were forthcoming post that. Paramount Management Group subsequently went out of business in December 2024, leaving investors with unpaid principal amounts around $402 million. "The magnitude of the offense alleged by this indictment is enormous," stated Metcalf in a press release, as he detailed Heller's cycle of deceit.
The case was probed by the FBI, with Assistant United States Attorneys Francis Weber and J. Andrew Jenemann leading the prosecution. Supportive roles were carried out by local law enforcement agencies including the Lancaster County Police Department and others. If convicted on all charges, Heller could face up to a century behind bars. Concurrently, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced their own charges against Heller.
As is standard in the judicial process, the charges and allegations in the indictment are accusations only at this point. Daryl Heller is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
