ST. GEORGE — A Georgia woman will spend time in federal prison after a yearlong FBI investigation revealed she defrauded more than a dozen victims in Washington County in a scheme that extended beyond Utah and the United States.

The defendant, Stephanie Nicole Summers, 54, of Duluth, Georgia, appeared before U.S. District Judge David Nuffer for sentencing on one count each of wire fraud and securities fraud, while the remaining four counts of wire and securities fraud were dismissed under the plea agreement.

Summers was sentenced to serve more than three years in federal prison for schemes the defendant admitted to during a plea hearing held in March involving multiple victims across the country and including more than a dozen in Southern Utah.

“Ms. Summers defrauded Utah citizens and people across the country of nearly $1 million for her own personal benefit. She lied to the victims and abused their trust to take their hard-earned money,” U.S. Attorney Trina A. Higgins of the District of Utah said in a statement released Wednesday.

The scheme 

The indictment was filed in connection with a scheme that began as far back as May 2016 and continued until at least February 2022 in Utah and elsewhere. Federal prosecutors allege that Summers promised victims she could help finance their business ventures but required her clients to make their own investments in the projects by sending money to various bank accounts she controlled.

The defendant reportedly used those funds to pay for personal expenses and make cash withdrawals and transfers into other ventures she controlled. She also diverted money to pay for other business expenses, instead of using the victim’s money as promised. 

Summers persuaded victims to invest in her companies by promising high returns, federal prosecutors allege, by telling investors she was a successful international businesswoman who controlled over 20 entities in the United States and beyond. 

She used misrepresentation as to how the funds would be used, as well as fraudulent credentials to gain their trust. 

Fraud, wire transfers and schemes in Utah 

In 2016, Summers told investors she could secure more than $47  million in financing for a project in Toquerville, Utah. In another instance she told a victim she could secure $25 million in financing for a technology startup, the indictment states.

In both instances, she told the clients they needed to make their own initial investment in each of the projects by sending funds to bank accounts she controlled. Federal prosecutors alleged that Summers told victims in the Washington County projects that their funds would be held in escrow until all other financing was in place to cover project costs. 

She also claimed to have helped to develop a hotel in Panama City, Panama, but failed to tell them she used the project in Panama to defraud another victim.

In another case she promised an investor 20% returns on their investment and encouraged them to roll over any profit into another investment opportunity, claiming she and her companies had assets worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” the indictment states. 

In each instance, federal prosecutors allege, Summers failed to tell the investors she was using their money on personal expenses or was transferring the funds to other entities she controlled instead of using their money for purposes they had agreed upon without their knowledge or consent. 

The fraud also involved four wire transfers totaling more than $570,00 by the defendant using bank branches in Washington County.

Year-long journey from indictment to sentencing   

Summers was indicted on March 23, 2023, and  pleaded not guilty to the federal charges during an arraignment hearing held before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler in St. George one month later.

From there, the case was set for a one-week trial starting on July 19, 2022, that was continued until November. The case was then scheduled for three different trial dates in 2023 from March through October. Two months later, federal prosecutors were advised of a scheme the defendant, who was out on pretrial release, was reportedly involved in that ultimately resulted in the revocation of her release.

The broker’s letter to the FBI 

Summers was arrested and placed in federal custody in Georgia in December after a broker reached out to report that Summers and several coconspirators attempted to purchase a number of hotels and clubs in Florida, including one valued at $5 million. The reporting party told agents Summers made several statements to the sellers, including claims she came from a wealthy family that owned various properties, as well as a holding company that managed several trust accounts, including one that held $15 million in cryptocurrency.

During the process, the defendants requested access to the club’s accounting system. Once granted, Summers and a codefendant attempted to delete $8,000 in bar and club expenses they accrued during the process — costs that were ultimately never repaid. The defendants also requested access to the business office, records and the safe under the guise of evaluating the cash flow and profitability of the club.

Once granted access, the defendants reportedly removed more that $67,000 in cash from the safe — an incident that was caught on video. Th cash was never returned to the business.

Once the broker became aware of the active federal case, he advised the sellers and all negotiations with the defendants ceased so the sale never went through. But between the stolen cash and unpaid bar and club expenses, agents learned the loss to the owners totaled more than $75,000.

FBI agents also gained access to a letter involving the defendants’ intent to purchase a building for $125 million from the same broke. The sale, however, never went through after the active fraud case was discovered. Shortly thereafter, federal prosecutors became aware of Summers’ involvement with the purported schemes in Florida while on pretrial release and she was arrested and held in federal custody in Georgia while the case proceeded through the courts.

Plea and sentencing factors 

The defendant pleaded guilty to the two federal charges in March and the case was set for a sentencing hearing held Wednesday in St. George.

Prior to being sentenced, the defendant admitted to the allegations contained in the indictment, including claims that her company, Summers Companies, Inc., successfully managed businesses in various industries in multiple countries, including holdings in the United States. She also admitted to taking a $275,000 investment in the Toquerville resort project by telling victims they had the option of converting those funds into shares that would be worth more than $1.3 million.

In another Southern Utah venture, Summers admitted to taking $230,000 from the victim by fraudulent means.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen P. Dent, one of the federal prosecutors assigned to the case, filed a sentencing memorandum stating that Summers posed as an international business owner who had holdings in multiple industries “from real estate to oil and gas to aviation” to further a scheme that left victims from Alaska to Utah to New York, adding that in Utah alone, she left 14 victims.  

As the granddaughter of an oil tycoon and the daughter of a psychiatrist who obtained a college degree and gained business experience,  Dent stated, she had the ability and opportunity to make an honest living. Instead, since at least 2016, the defendant used her business and communication skills to deceive others and take their money.

Nevertheless, Dent said any sentence should serve as a deterrent, which is especially important in this case based upon the defendant’s multiyear fraud and her behavior on pretrial release – all of which is an indication of the defendant’s “propensity to defraud.”  

The defendant’s continued scheming even after she was indicted was also mentioned by Higgins who said in the release, “Summers repeated criminal behavior shows a complete disrespect for the law and the people she victimized.”

Following the hearing, the judge ordered that once the defendant has served out her prison sentence, she will be placed on three years post-prison supervision. She was also ordered to pay more than $904,600 in restitution.

A cautionary tale 

The months-long investigation was spearheaded by FBI Special Agent Shohini Sinha, who wrote that “Fraudsters like Summers are expert manipulators motivated by greed.”

The agent went on to say the FBI will investigate those who defraud others for personal gain, adding that this case serves as a reminder that diligence is key when presented with an investment opportunity,  particularly when it involves a high rate of return.

The case was investigated by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dent and Christopher Burton, both with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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