Independent contractor formerly associated with MML Investors Services pleads guilty to running Ponzi

A one-time independent contractor who never gained status as a registered representative in Missouri for MML Investors Services last week pleaded guilty to operating a Ponzi scheme that fraudulently obtained more than $3.8 million from at least 60 individual investors through false and misleading representations.

Investor funds were misappropriated for Trevor Uhls’ personal benefit, according to a statement last Thursday by the Justice Department. He faces a sentence of up to 20 years for the wire fraud charge and a maximum of 10 years in prison for money laundering. 

Uhls, 29, pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. 

MML Investors Services, a broker-dealer and registered investment advisors, is owned by MassMutual, the giant insurance company.

“The promissory notes were offered for sale by Uhls personally,” a spokesperson for MML Investors Services wrote in an email. “And neither MassMutual nor MMLIS reviewed, approved or was a party to any of them.”

"Trevor Uhls pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and money laundering for running a Ponzi scheme,” said Chase Carlson, an attorney who represents 11 victims of the scheme. “We’re glad he has accepted responsibility.”

“Mr. Uhls ran this scheme out of the branch office of a major broker-dealer and insurance company, using its email system, its electronic signature account, and its name to make himself credible to investors,” Carlson added.

Uhls in July was charged with wire fraud and money laundering in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. A special agent for the Internal Revenue Service signed the complaint.

Uhls, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., “engaged in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud local and out-of-state investors through fantastic promises of guaranteed returns on short-term investments in construction companies and private-equity groups,” according to the complaint.

“Dating back to at least September 2024, UHLS has been engaged in a scheme to solicit funds from investors for fake short-term, crowdfunded, real estate deals purportedly secured by promissory notices with local construction companies,” the complaint alleged.

Uhls was barred from working in the securities industry in May for not cooperating in a FINRA investigation about the matter.

While Uhls was not a registered representative of MML, he had the status of a “former associated person” with the firm, according to the FINRA order. Associated people at securities firms hold a variety of jobs but are not licensed to sell securities or investment products.

According to federal charges, investor funds were allegedly misappropriated for Uhls’ personal benefit.

According to the charges, in June 2025, Uhls text messaged an Independence, Mo., investor claiming that the investor could earn 8.5% interest by pooling his money with others for a storage unit investment. The investor wired $15,000 to Uhls’ checking account.

Uhls used that investor’s money plus another $5,000 to purchase a Rolex watch and a Rolex bracelet from Meierotto Jewelers for a total amount of more than $20,000, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, the storage unit investment Uhls offered the victim was part of a fraudulent scheme and that Uhls made false statements to solicit funds to further the scheme.

A review of Uhls’ financial records found no evidence that he invested the victim’s money in storage units, according to the complaint.