WILLIAMSPORT - The Natalie man sentenced last month to 10 months in prison on charges of defrauding investors in an investment scheme was granted an extension to when he must report to prison
On Wednesday, Federal Judge John E. Jones III, of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, gave Jason Yuskoski until March 15 or two weeks after his third child is born to report to prison to begin his 10-month term.
He was originally ordered to report to prison on Monday, Nov. 19, but he requested the delay because his wife is having complications in the pregnancy, and the baby is due at the end of February.
In addition to his prison term, Yuskoski was sentenced Oct. 17 in front of Jones to three years of supervised release, a mental health examination and ordered to pay $179,875 in restitution to his victims.
In January 2011, Yuskoski pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a case brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office the prior April. The original indictment included five counts, to which Yuskoski had originally pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, filed April 8, from around Jan. 1, 2008, through Nov. 1, 2009, Yuskoski devised a scheme to obtain investment money from people looking to invest in security, treasury bills and other commercial paper with the assistance of an investment banker named "David Mark McCormick" or "Mark McCormick."
The investors came not only from the court's jurisdiction in Pennsylvania, but also the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Massachusetts,
The indictment reads that Yuskoski would tell potential investors that McCormick worked as a pharmacist for a local supermarket and that within a short period of time, substantially increased his wife's inheritance through investing in various securities. Yuskoski would then tell investors that McCormick had taken a leave of absence from the pharmacy to work with a securities investment firm and could take additional clients through Yuskoski.
According to the indictment, Yuskoski would give the investors fax numbers and e-mail addresses for McCormick to contact him, as well as a securities account. The telephone lines and Internet site were situated at Yuskoski's home.
It went so far that Yuskoski would arrange for McCormick to meet with or talk on the telephone with the potential investors to reassure them of his background and investment skills, "even though he then knew that the person who spoke or met with potential investors was not 'Mark McCormick' or 'David Mark McCormick' and did not possess the background and skills of that person," the indictment reads.
When an investor would request follow-up contact with McCormick, Yuskoski told them that the person has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphona, which required medical treatment and suggested that Yuskoski participate in future activities. He told investors that their money was invested in treasury bills offered by the government of Germany, but no such documents existed.
In the first count of the indictment, prosecutors allege that Yuskoski did send the investors information that their account had increased in value even though he knew that he had lost money in purchasing or selling securities or had not invested their money but instead used other money to pay back investors.
On March 19, 2009, Yuskoski initiated a wire transfer of $100,000 from Ohio to a online investment account in which funds was accessed in Northumberland County.
In the other counts of the indictment, Yuskoski was accused of making wire transfers of $65,000 from an account in Ohio and $16,000 from Massachusetts.