United States v. Fluker, No. 11-1013 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this Case
The Flukers, father, son, and daughter, operated various fraudulent, Ponzi-like schemes that duped victims into investing millions of dollars. By the time the overall scheme ended in 2007, the Flukers had already received more than $16 million from one scheme, involving more than 3,000 people, and more than $2.6 million from another, involving more than 25 people. Bank records demonstrated that the money received was never invested in any significant way in order for a return to have been generated. The three were convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. 1341, 1343 by mail and wire fraud. The district court found the father “the person who is most responsible for what happened.” Though the Sentencing Guidelines called for a range of 210 to 262 months’ imprisonment, daughter was sentenced to 96 months’ incarceration, plus restitution of $10,783,960.45. The district court sentenced son to 96 months’ imprisonment with restitution of $7,336,957.49. Father was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment plus $7,336,957.49 restitution. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting challenges to evidentiary rulings, to calculation of the sentences, and to the district court’s decision to provide the jury with an “ostrich” instruction.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.