Published: July 18, 2009 11:35 pm         

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Alanar fraud charges a chance for justice

Bernie Madoff’s many victims had a poignant tale to tell. As those close to the Wall Street swindler’s high-profile case pointed out, victims were rich, poor, and in between.

In the end, a federal judge earlier this month sentenced the 71-year-old investment banker to 150 years in prison for the thievery that allowed him to live a life of luxury while his victims lost most of their savings.

Many people in the Wabash Valley and beyond have taken a special interest in the Madoff case. They believe hey know what it is like to lose substantial sums to people they trusted. They, too, will soon get their day in court.

Their own personal drama is playing out in Sullivan Circuit Court, where the former owner and executives of Alanar Inc. are charged with 10 counts of securities fraud for what authorities say was a classic affinity scam.

Vaughn Reeves, a former pastor in Sullivan, and his three sons, Josh, Chip and Chris, currently reside in the Sullivan County Jail awaiting separate trials later this year. They are accused of bilking millions of dollars from investors in an elaborate Ponzi scheme built on the lure of money for church construction projects.

It is still very early in the prosecution of the Alanar execs, and it’s important to remember they have not been convicted of any crimes. The accusations will have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

But it’s also worth noting that the Alanar case has been around for a while. The Sullivan-based investment company was shut down and its assets seized by federal agencies several years ago. Meanwhile, investigators have been trying to sort out the complex financial maze created by the company in an attempt to recover as much of the money as possible for redistribution back to investors.

A state criminal investigation only began, local and state authorities said, after it was clear no federal agency was going to launch its own.

With the aid of the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, Sullivan County’s prosecutor was able to build a case that led to criminal charges being filed.

Alanar’s victims were allegedly targeted because of their faith and exploited because of their religious convictions. Authorities say the Reeveses and their employees in many cases coaxed victims out of their life’s savings and invested those savings in church bonds. Then, while creating various accounts and illegally moving investors’ money between them, authorities say they stole up to $6 million for themselves to finance their exorbitant lifestyles.

Madoff’s scheme was similar in that his victims were unsuspecting investors from communities familiar with him and his reputation; they had no reason to suspect anything but good intentions.

Vaughn Reeves, as a former pastor, had been affiliated with churches and religious communities for years. His efforts to help churches finance new buildings through bond sales appeared to be God’s work. Authorities suspect that made it easier for him to prey on people of faith.

A scheme such as Madoff’s or alleged scam such as Alanar’s left many victims in their wake. In the Alanar case, many people lost large sums of money — some tens of thousands of dollars, others hundreds of thousands. Only small portions of those sums will ever be recovered.

With most of that money gone, justice will be hard to achieve, especially for the victims. But if the Reeveses, like Madoff, are eventually convicted, victims can at least move on with the knowledge that someone specific was held accountable.

Large-scale fraud is not a victimless crime. The State of Indiana, on behalf of those who lost money in the Alanar debacle, pursued the case aggressively and deserves credit for attempting to achieve some form of justice. Win or lose, the case was one that needed to be pressed.