A St. Louis man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for running a Ponzi scheme involving refrigerant sales. U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig handed down the sentence and ordered Robert F. Rothluebbers, aged 68, to repay $287,000 to his victims.
Rothluebbers operated the scheme from October 2014 to May 2017 by falsely promising investors that their money would be used to buy R-22 refrigerant in bulk at a discount. He claimed he would resell it at a 50% profit due to its gradual phaseout, which he said would boost investor returns.
Instead of investing the funds as promised, Rothluebbers used the money for personal expenses and paid off earlier investors with funds from new ones. He misled his victims with false assurances about returning their money and provided fabricated reasons for delays, such as claiming financial institutions or the IRS had frozen his accounts.
The fraudulent activities affected many semi-retired individuals living on fixed incomes, forcing them into costly legal battles to recover their investments. Rothluebbers managed to raise at least $350,000 from four investors but failed to repay most of these funds.
In September, Rothluebbers pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud. The FBI conducted the investigation while Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.