Founder of Suburban Tech Company Sentenced for Defrauding Investors out of More Than $9 Million

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/founder-suburban-tech-company-sentenced-9-years-defrauding-investors-out-more-9-million

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 2, 2017

Founder of Suburban Tech Company Sentenced to 9 Years for Defrauding Investors out of More Than $9 Million

CHICAGO — The founder of a northwest suburban tech company has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of more than $9 million. GREGORY WEBB, 71, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Elk Grove Village-based InfrAegis Inc., was convicted last year on nine counts of mail and wire fraud for fraudulently raising more than $9 million from more than 200 investors. In written materials and telephone conference calls with investors between 2007 and 2012, Webb falsely portrayed InfrAegis as a successful company with growing stakes in the science and technology field. Among other things, Webb told investors that the company had signed or was on the verge of signing billion-dollar contracts with government agencies and municipalities across the world, including Chicago. The company’s products purportedly could protect the public from terrorist attacks by recognizing individuals on the terrorist watch list and instantaneously detecting biological, chemical and radiological threats on city streets, as well as by identifying harmful bacteria and other threats to the world’s food and water supply.

In reality, InfrAegis was not in a position to deploy any of its products because they had never been fully developed or tested, and the company had never signed contracts or even came close to signing contracts for the deployment of its products. The investors, some of whom included Chicago firefighters and other first responders, never received any return on their investment in the company.
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