The wife of missing Atlanta financial adviser Chris Burns has taken to the airwaves, and in an interview with a local news broadcast implored her husband to give himself up to the authorities.
Burns is facing mail fraud charges from an alleged scheme that defrauded dozens of clients more than $10 million and has not been heard from in six months. "It’s time," Meredith Burns told WSB TV in a story posted Monday morning to its website. "Turn yourself in."
Chris Burns, 39, has been on the lam since Sept. 24. That was one day before he was supposed to turn over documents related to his businesses to the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the FBI's Most Wanted profile of Burns.
A month later, the FBI charged the adviser with mail fraud. In November, the SEC followed up with its own complaint, alleging that the adviser had become "even more brazen" as his alleged scheme neared collapse.
As part of his scheme, Burns allegedly lied to clients that he was investing their money in a “peer-to-peer” lending program in which loans were backed by collateral, according to the FBI. In reality, the collateral touted by Burns allegedly did not exist or was worth substantially less than the adviser represented.
The host of a local weekly radio show, Burns conducted business through a number of entities, including Investus Advisers, Investus Financial, Dynamic Money and Peer Connect, according to the FBI.
During the interview with WSB TV news, Meredith Burns was asked where her husband might have gone. "I have no idea," she replied. "It was just lies, constantly."
She was then asked whether if she had any indication back in September that her husband was about to leave. "No. I literally had family pictures scheduled for that Sunday," she said.
Chris Burns' mood was "kind of like up and down," and he was busy with lots of paperwork right before he left.
And when he fled, she collapsed in the driveway because she realized something was extremely wrong. "So I called the police," Meredith Burns said. "He needs to be brought in for these crimes."
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