The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering up to $150,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a fugitive former advisor charged with defrauding roughly 100 people in a Ponzi scheme.
Christopher W. Burns, 43, a former RIA and broker from Berkeley Lake, Georgia, has been missing for nearly six years, since he was charged with scamming victims out of at least $10 million, according to authorities. The vehicle he had been driving was found abandoned in Dunwoody, Georgia, the FBI noted last week.
The FBI named Burns to a new "Most Wanted Fraudsters" list, the Atlanta office said in a Facebook post last week. He was already on the FBI's wanted list.
"As part of his scheme, Burns allegedly falsely told victims that he was investing their money in a 'peer to peer' lending program in which loans were backed by collateral. In reality, the collateral promised by Burns either did not exist at all or was worth substantially less than Burns represented," an FBI poster states.
"He has not been seen since he left his home on September 24, 2020, one day before he was supposed to turn over documents related to his businesses to the Securities and Exchange Commission," the poster says.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta issued an arrest warrant for Burns on Oct. 23, 2020, after he was charged with mail fraud, according to the poster.
In 2022, a court considering a civil case against him brought by the SEC ordered Burns to pay over $12 million to his victims. In 2021, his former wife appealed to him on TV to give himself up.
In 2023, a federal grand jury charged Burns with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering in the scheme, which allegedly involved the sale of illegal promissory notes.
Christopher Burns. Photo courtesy of FBI
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