A Swiss executive who spent nearly 11 years as a fugitive has finally landed in a Las Vegas federal courtroom, where he pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking part in a multimillion-dollar international securities fraud. Prosecutors say he and his partners dangled access to high-yield investments that did not exist and managed to pull roughly $6 million out of investors’ pockets.
According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, 67-year-old Martin Schlaepfer, identified in court papers as the chief executive of Malom Group AG, admitted that he and his co-conspirators promoted fictitious investments and used fabricated bank documents to persuade victims to wire money into an escrow account. The indictment was unsealed in December 2013, and Schlaepfer was arrested in Italy in September 2024 on an Interpol Red Notice before being extradited to the United States in July 2025. He entered his guilty plea on Tuesday and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2026, facing a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.
How the Malom Group Scheme Operated
As outlined in Securities and Exchange Commission court documents, Malom, an acronym prosecutors said stood for “Make A Lot Of Money,” marketed what it called prime-bank instruments and backed them up with bogus proof-of-funds paperwork to make the deals look legitimate. The SEC filings seek disgorgement of about $6.02 million and describe fabricated bank statements and escrow arrangements that prosecutors say were used to siphon off investor funds.
Co-conspirators and Earlier Convictions
The federal case has a long tail. U.S. prosecutors previously tried and convicted several U.S.-based associates, including Anthony Brandel and James Warras, who were convicted in 2015 and later sentenced to about seven years, while Joseph Micelli pleaded guilty and received a five-year term, according to reporting by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Victims in the related civil and criminal cases say they never got their money back.
Extradition and What’s Next
Schlaepfer’s return to U.S. custody followed his 2024 arrest in Italy and his 2025 extradition to Nevada, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The FBI’s Las Vegas Field Office handled the investigation, and prosecutors on the case include officials from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Sentencing is set for June 9, 2026.
Legal Process and Restitution
At sentencing a federal judge will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with any restitution or forfeiture requests prosecutors put on the table. The SEC’s civil remedies and any ordered disgorgement are separate from the criminal case, but they may influence how much, if anything, victims are ultimately able to recover. The case highlights the international reach of white-collar enforcement and how extradition and cross-border cooperation can reel in long-absent defendants.
